Monstrous hurricanes Helene and Milton caused so much complex havoc that damages are still being added up, but experts in economics, insurance and risk say they are likely to be in the pantheon of super-costly $50 billion disasters.

The last time the eye of a major storm like Hurricane Milton directly struck Tampa Bay was 1921 when the city was a sleepy backwater.

Authorities in Hawaii say a fire that swept through a picturesque town in Maui this week has killed at least 89 people, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire of the past century.

Dozens of Florida residents have evacuated from their flooded and splintered homes by boat and air as rescuers search for survivors after Hurricane Ian.

It’s been over a century since a major storm like Hurricane Ian has struck the Tampa Bay area, which blossomed from a few hundred thousand people in 1921 to more than 3 million today.

(National Weather Service via AP)This week’s killer freeze in the U.S. was no surprise. AdThe event shows how unprepared the nation and its infrastructure are for extreme weather events that will become bigger problems with climate change, meteorologists and disaster experts said. He said the meteorological signal from the Arctic, where the cold air was escaping from, “was literally blinking red. University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado tweeted about “off the chart” cold on Feb. 5. “We come up with all kinds of rationale for ‘we’re going to be OK.'"__This story corrects the spelling of the name of a Texas A&M University meteorology professor.

– As southwest Louisiana recovers from the back-to-back hurricanes that hammered the region this year, signs of progress compete with lingering evidence of mass destruction. Hurricane Laura roared ashore in southwestern Louisiana on Aug. 27 as a Category 4 storm just south of Lake Charles. According to Louisiana government figures, nearly 47,000 homes were damaged by Hurricane Laura, with about 16,000 of those in need of major repairs. The bulk of those homes are in Calcasieu Parish, home to the state's fifth-largest city, Lake Charles, with 80,000 residents. A Facebook group set up after Hurricane Laura has become a lifeline for struggling residents.

HOUSTON – Beta weakened to a tropical depression Tuesday as it parked itself over the Texas coast, raising concerns of extensive flooding in Houston and areas farther inland. Beta, which made landfall late Monday as a tropical storm just north of Port O’Connor, is the first storm named for a Greek letter to make landfall in the continental United States. The storm was moving east-northeast at 5 mph (8 kilometers) and was expected to crawl inland along the coast over Texas through Wednesday. However, forecasters and officials reassured residents that Beta was not expected to be another Hurricane Harvey or Tropical Storm Imelda. Now a tropical storm, Paulette was expected to become a post-tropical remnant low in the next day or so.

The BET Awards served as an extension of the voices of Black people protesting in the streets about the inequalities Black people face daily, as artists used their performances to highlight the Black Lives Matter movement, civil rights and the lives of those lost because of police officers, including George Floyd. The BET Awards kicked off with Black artists rapping and singing anthems about the Black experience and fighting for equal rights. Nipsey’s family, we love you.”The BET Awards, one of the first awards shows to air virtually, featured performances that were sharp with artsy stage production, giving extra life to the songs being performed. “I used to watch the BET Awards all the time thinking, ‘One day that’s going to be me going up there accepting my award’ — and now it is.”Though the BET Awards are technically about handing out trophies, the awards were an afterthought. Beyoncé won the BET HER award for “Brown Skin Girl,” shared with daughter Blue Ivy Carter as well as Wizkid and Saint JHN.