The Staggering Price Of US Hurricanes Since 2016: Over $800 Billion
The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season is beginning, following the costliest nine-year siege of hurricanes and tropical storms in the U.S. that claimed over 4,000 lives.
- Beginning with Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and ending with Hurricane Milton in 2024, a siege of 29 tropical storms and hurricanes over nine years caused at least $1 billion in damage in the U.S., according to statistics compiled by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.
- The total damage in the U.S. from these 29 storms was estimated at $820 billion, the costliest nine-year stretch for tropical cyclones in the U.S. dating to 1980. That's more than the 2023 gross domestic product of Poland.
- These 29 storms claimed 4,026 lives in the U.S. from elements directly related to each storm's flooding and winds. The large majority of those deaths were in Puerto Rico from 2017's Hurricane Maria (2,981), though two recent hurricanes - Helene (219 killed) and Ian (152 killed) - also claimed over 100 lives each.
(MORE: Helene, Milton Among Most Recent Hurricane Names Retired)
- In that same nine-year stretch, six of the 10 costliest U.S. hurricanes have occurred.
- Three of those - Ida ($85 billion), Ian ($120 billion) and Helene ($79 billion) - have occurred in the past four years. The other three - Harvey ($160 billion), Irma ($64 billion) and Maria ($115 billion) each occurred in 2017.
- NOAA's database lists 67 U.S. billion-dollar-plus tropical storms and hurricanes since 1980.
- But these events don't happen every year. Before 2016, the U.S. went three straight years without a billion-dollar tropical storm or hurricane following Superstorm Sandy. There were also two-year stretches without these particularly costly storms after the 2008 and historic 2005 hurricane seasons.
(MORE: When Was The Last 'Quiet' Hurricane Season?)
- Outlooks from Colorado State University, The Weather Company/Atmospheric G2 and NOAA are each calling for a more active than average 2025 hurricane season, but not as active as 2024.
- "Since 1950, 23% of all North Atlantic hurricanes have made landfall in the U.S.," wrote Todd Crawford, Vice President of Meteorology at Atmospheric G2 in an earlier outlook. NOAA's Hurricane Research Division calculated an average of about one hurricane made landfall in the U.S. each year, based on data from 1851 through 2022.
- Crawford's team noted long-range computer models suggest the pattern of winds aloft that guide hurricanes could steer them more toward the U.S. again in 2025.
- It's too soon to tell whether that pattern will be in place while a hurricane is out there this season. For now, the AG2/TWC team is forecasting three hurricanes to make a U.S. landfall in 2025, two less than did so during the destructive 2024 hurricane season.
Now – not in the days before a hurricane strikes – is a good time to refresh or develop a plan.
That includes knowing if you live in an evacuation zone, assembling a disaster kit at home, making your home as resilient as possible, checking on your insurance policy and making an inventory of your belongings.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
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