The ferocity of hurricanes and storm surge flooding in the United States in recent years has caused a great deal of hand-wringing around the future health and insurability of coastal communities. However, coastal communities haven't seen the greatest statistical leap in natural disasters over the last 20 years, according to QuoteWizard.com. That insurance comparison site recently analyzed records from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to look for natural disaster trends in the U.S. Researchers found that most of the top states to see an increased number of natural disasters over the last two decades are in fact land-locked. One peril, in particular, is causing the spike in inland natural disasters: Wildfires. And of course, we can't talk about the increased natural disaster risk these days without also mentioning climate change. "The massive rate of increase in natural disasters in the fire-prone states is due to a number of climate and man-made causes," writes QuoteWizard Content Manager Adam Johnson. "Wildfires in the western United States are not only becoming more frequent, but larger in size and deaths." According to Aon's "Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight 2019 Annual Report," the direct economic losses from natural disasters in the U.S. in 2019 was $232 billion. Of those losses, only $71 billion were insured. The slideshow above summarizes the top 10 states to see an uptick in natural disasters over the last two decades, according to QuoteWizard and FEMA. See also: |

• 2019 natural disasters reviewed: The 10 costliest insured loss events
• Commercial property insurance brokers 'take cover'
• Wildfire event response: How P&C insurers can help fix it