Climate Central: 2025 Disasters Set Cost Record | JQJO

Climate Central reports the first half of 2025 was the costliest on record for US disasters, with 14 events topping $1bn and $101bn in damages. Ferocious January wildfires in Los Angeles drove the toll—$61bn, about 16,000 buildings lost and roughly 400 indirect deaths—ranking among the priciest US climate disasters and the only top‑10 event not a hurricane. The nonprofit revived NOAA’s billion‑dollar disaster tracking after the Trump administration retired it. Experts warn FEMA’s staff cuts and politically driven funding fights leave the country vulnerable, even as no hurricane has made landfall and July’s Texas floods lie beyond the update.