TREASURE ISLAND, FLORIDA: People continue to clean up from the previous storm as preparations are ... [ ] made for Hurricane Milton's arrival. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Disasters are increasingly wreaking havoc in costlier ways than in the past. Climate change may be fueling stronger storms, but human development patterns are amplifying their destructive potential and elevating costs. We see examples in the death and destruction caused by recent hurricanes.

The rising costs of disasters underscore the urgent need for the United States to strengthen its fiscal health. As I discussed in a previous Forbes.com article, effective crisis management requires substantial investment and sustained support. A fortified financial position would help to ensure funding is available over the long run for crucial disaster preparedness, response, and recovery activities.

The severity and cost of extreme disaster events has soared this century. While the number of declared disasters and emergencies by the Federal Emergency Management Agency has held relatively steady, averaging about 125 annually, there has been a surge in mega-disasters. Once rare, billion-dollar-loss events — a threshold Hurricane Helene will almost certainly surpass and Milton may cross — have become commonplace. As the pace of such severe events accelerates, there is a need to reconsider the incentives (and lack of disincentives) to build in risky areas. With government responses and taxpayer costs growing, there is also a need to reconsider how best to structure U.S. emergency management-related activities.

Disaster severity trends are unmistakable. The number and cost of billion-dollar disasters have multiplied since the 1980s, according to data from the NOAA National........

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