Economic damage from hurricanes and various natural disasters in the United States surged last year, indicating a year marked by expensive severe weather including storms, floods, and droughts.
According to the insurance company Aon PLC, economic losses caused by natural disasters in the U.S. reached a staggering $217.8 billion in the past year.
This amount is a significant 85.3% increase compared to 2023, which recorded around $117.5 billion in losses.
Furthermore, this figure represents the highest annual economic losses linked to natural disasters since 2017.
Insured losses, which refer to the portion of economic losses covered by insurance policies, also witnessed a notable rise.
These losses grew by 36%, totaling $112.7 billion—marking the highest level recorded since 2022.
Hurricane Helene was one of the primary culprits, which swept through six states in the southeastern U.S. last fall, inflicting about $75 billion in damages predominantly from coastal and inland flooding, as reported by Aon.
Shortly thereafter, Hurricane Milton struck the west coast of Florida, contributing another $25 billion in losses.
Liz Henderson, Aon’s global head of climate risk advisory, stated that the presence of considerable hurricane activity in the U.S. considerably influenced the damage figures.
She explained, “When these events occur, they impact vast regions and affect valuable properties and individuals.
Hence, losses tend to be considerably higher during such events.”
Apart from the hurricanes, additional factors such as a couple of other hurricanes, several serious storms, and drought conditions also played a role in the substantial economic losses related to natural disasters in the U.S. last year.
Beyond U.S. borders, catastrophic floods in Spain’s Valencia region and other disasters contributed to a global economic loss of $368 billion due to natural calamities last year, according to Aon.
This figure marks a decline of 7.3% from the previous year; however, it is still approximately 14% above the average annual loss recorded since 2000.
Global insured losses also experienced a surge, escalating by 15.1% to reach $145 billion.
While predicting the exact timing, location, and magnitude of future natural disasters remains a challenge, the start of 2025 has not been particularly promising.
Devastating wildfires that broke out in Los Angeles County on January 7 have already resulted in the loss of at least 28 lives and the destruction of over 14,000 structures.
These wildfires are anticipated to rank among the most expensive natural disasters to date.
In a separate analysis released recently, Aon projected that total economic and insured losses tied to the two largest blazes—the Palisades fire and the Eaton blaze near Los Angeles—could amount to tens of billions of dollars, making them potentially the costliest wildfires in U.S. history.
