This is the 3rd time in the past 12 months the Philippines have set a new disaster record

[phantom power]

With a preliminary death toll of 1,200, Haiyan already ranks as the 8th deadliest typhoon in Philippines history. The deadliest typhoon in Philippines history was Typhoon Thelma of 1991, which killed between 5101 - 8000 people, reports wunderground's weather historian Christopher C. Burt in his latest post on Philippines typhoon history. Haiyan will become the deadest typhoon in Philippines history if the estimates today of 10,000 dead hold up.

Bloomberg Industries is estimating insured damages of $2 billion and total economic damages of $14 billion, making Haiyan the most expensive natural disaster in Philippines history. This is the third time in the past 12 months the Philippines have set a new record for their most expensive natural disaster in history. The record was initially set by Typhoon Bopha of December 2012, with $1.7 billion in damage; that record was beaten by the $2.2 billion in damage done by the August 2013 floods on Luzon caused by moisture associated with Typhoon Trami.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2576

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Citing impacts of storms by estimated financial cost is mis-leading,IMHO

because of inflation. Almost everything is more expensive over time.
Death toll numbers over time can be somewhat misleading also.

What impressed me about this storm was ..size...the fact it sustained 160 mph winds for over 2 days ( gulp).

And the fact we are likely to see more super storms due to climate change.

[phantom power]

2. best practice is to correct figures for inflation when comparing

I assume that was the case here, although I didn't find any official statement one way or the other when I examined the cited wikipedia tables.