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2mo ago

U.S. Logged 23 Billion-Dollar Disasters in 2025, Costing $115 Billion and 276 Lives

Climate Central has replaced NOAA as steward of the billion-dollar disaster database after the federal program was retired.

TOPSHOT - In this aerial view taken from a helicopter, burned homes are seen from above during the Palisades fire near the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California on January 9, 2025. Terrified residents caught in blazing neighbourhoods, influencers ignoring the ban on drones and the frightening unpredictability of the wildfires are just some of what journalists covering the fires ravaging Los Angeles for AFP have had to manage. The United States' second-largest city has never faced a blaze of this scale, driven by an extreme autumn drought and fierce Santa Ana winds -- the strongest since 2011 -- that have turned dry hills into kindling, fuelling a relentless inferno that has raged for more than a week. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP) (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)
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A neighborhood in Pacific Palisades on the one-year anniversary of the fires that ravaged Los Angeles.
Flames engulf a structure as the Eaton Fire burns in Pasadena, California, on January 8, 2025.

Overview

  • The Los Angeles wildfires in January led losses at $61.2 billion, becoming the costliest U.S. wildfires on record.
  • Severe storms dominated the year with 21 of the 23 events and about $51 billion in damage, including an $11 billion March tornado outbreak.
  • No major hurricane made U.S. landfall despite an active Atlantic season with three Category 5 storms, helping keep overall losses lower than recent peaks.
  • Billion-dollar disasters are occurring more often, averaging one every 10 days in 2025 compared to 82 days in the 1980s.
  • After NOAA ended updates in May, Climate Central revived the database using the same methodology, led by former NOAA scientist Adam Smith.