The harsh weather is an expensive problem in the United States. Last year, fires, droughts and storms caused more than $ 182 billion of damage – but to move forward, the federal government will not follow.
The National Oceanic and Air Force, or NOAA, announced on Thursday that it has “retired” its famous database of climate disasters and weather that caused damage to at least one billion dollars, a step that follows the Trump administration’s efforts to clean environmental data throughout the federal government.
The free public tool assesses direct economic losses, response costs, and the costs of interruption of business related to the most harmful disaster to strike the United States in the actual time. It was an essential component of insurance and reinsurance industries, which need to invest in their own analysis or rely on costly assembly services. Emergency managers and elected officials also provide a continuous view of the increasingly collision of the weather due to climate change with heavy development in disaster areas.
The agency said that although the data that extends to 1980 will remain archiving and available, NOAA staff will not update the site or prove the numbers of any weather related to the weather that occurred since last December. This includes Los Angeles fires, the recent floods in the Middle West and South Western, and Tornado was spread in March, at least 39 people were killed in the center and east of the United States-all billions of dollars worth, according to various estimates.
Noaa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a message posted on the intended page of the disaster tool, she cited “advanced priorities, legal states, and employment changes” as reasons for the suspension of the program. The Trump administration also canceled a handful of NOAA programs and grants, which it claims to be “climate anxiety” and draw future risks due to climate change.
Kiran Bhatia, a hurricane researcher, who is now the Climate and Sustainability Commander in North America in Jay Carpenter, a global broker for his reinsurance, said that proving the escalating financial impact of climate change is “not necessarily the goal” of a billion dollar database.
“I think what happened is that there is a lot of other external evidence that allows people to tie points,” Bhaatia said. The United States has seen an increasing number of $ 1 billion weather disasters. Last year, last year witnessed the second largest events with $ 27 billion, after only 2023 of this in 2023, and the researchers worked to get rid of the precise effect of climate change.
There are other ways to obtain damage estimates, including insurance and reinsurance industries. Frank Notre, head of the American Insurance Association, said they tend to report great losses in in -depth periodic reports. But he said that these summaries cannot replace the Noaa database, which was constantly updated with striking maps and customizable plans “that can be accessed and significant to the public.”
This is an important matter for insurance companies because it gets “public and public employees to adopt flexibility.” When individuals work to protect their properties, this can help maintain insurance premiums, which are clearly a problem in many markets. ”
California may be the poster for high prices or insurance companies that leave the state completely, but the red states have also struggled to maintain available insurance at reasonable prices. It is also not affected by a billion dollar disasters, according to the Noaa database.
Florida has led the nation with a damage of at least $ 450 billion since 1980, followed by Texas with at least $ 440 billion and Louisiana with $ 310 billion. Together, the three states account for more than 41 % of all the financial losses that have been accelerated by NOAA.
Julie Kai Roberts, who was the NOAA Chief of Staff in Trump’s first administration, but has since broken with the president, said that those countries that voted with an overwhelming majority for Trump in 2024 will continue to be among the most difficult disasters, even if the database no longer reflects the damage, said Juli Kay Roberts, who has been in the first administration of Trump, but has since broken the president. With the next hurricane season, this is just around the corner – which is expected to have medium activity above average – the losses can start soon, even if no NOAA registered.
“I think if they don’t talk about it, it will not happen,”.
