Weather Insider: Billion-Dollar Disasters

The US is no stranger to costly natural disasters, from hurricanes to tornadoes to earthquakes and more. Since 1980, there have been more than 400 billion-dollar disasters. Collectively, these events have led to the deaths of nearly 17,000 people. These events haven't been spread evenly over the years, however. The number of these disasters has sharply increased since the 1980s. So far in 2025, there have been at least 15 such disasters.

The frequency of billion-dollar disasters has also fallen sharply. In the 80s, there were about 82 days between these events. Over the last 10 years, however, that time span has fallen to only 19 days. These disasters have done more than 2.9 trillion dollars in damage. Even when adjusted for inflation, the amount of damage from disasters continues to increase and is higher now than ever before.