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There were 23 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the United States last year, adding up to a total of $115 billion in damages, according to a new report from the climate research nonprofit Climate Central.
The report, and establishment of the Billion-Dollar Disasters Database within Climate Central, is a rare example of the private sector taking on government responsibilities.
The database allows taxpayers, media and researchers to track the cost of natural disasters, largely through property losses — spanning extreme events from hurricanes to hailstorms. It has been especially useful for the insurance and real estate industries and has been a way for the public to track the effects of fossil fuels on extreme weather and climate events.
The Trump administration halted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's tracking of that data set in May 2025.
Then Climate Central hired Adam Smith, who had produced the disaster reports for NOAA, after he left government service amid cuts made across the oceans and atmosphere agency. Smith brought the database and its methodology with him to Climate Central.
The Climate Central database uses effectively the same methodology as NOAA's did, in order to be a direct continuation of the government's previous work.
Read more at the link in @cnn's bio.
📷: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images; Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
