U.S. Government Unprepared for Extreme Weather Events: Senator

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Moreover, 1.8-million acres of land have burned in the southwest and southern plains states due to wildfires.

"Any one such event in a year would be considered quite notable, and we had four in totally different hazard categories in the space of a month," Sullivan told Reuters.

Climate change is expected to accelerate the magnitude of future weather events.

Durbin indicated that after a tumultuous 2010, "the U.S. has already experienced eight natural disasters this year -- the previous record was nine. Chicago, in my home state of Illinois, has seen some of the worst weather in history."

Durbin noted that this past February, Chicago was hit with two feet of snow in a blizzard that killed three dozen people and caused damages estimated at almost $4-billion. Last weekend, the city was hammered by the biggest single-day rainfall in recorded history.

"Combined with last night's severe rainstorms, July 2011 is now the wettest month in the 122 years of Chicago's recorded history," he noted. "The economic impact of severe weather events is only projected to grow."

Donald Wuebble, a scientist at the University of Illinois, told the committee: "Every weather event that happens nowadays takes place in the context of the changes in the background climate system. So nothing is entirely 'natural' anymore.”

Durbin further warned that over the 75 years, weather-disaster damages could cost the federal government $7 trillion.

"In years with catastrophic events, we are left scrambling to fund relief programs," he said. "If we hope to put this country on a sustainable fiscal path, we need to be prepared to manage this increase in natural catastrophes."

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