Trump Stops Tracking Billion-Dollar Disasters 

Washington, D.C. — Donald Trump’s administration has ordered an end to tracking the costs of extreme weather events that cause the most damage – those that cost at least $1 billion. This data is critical for measuring the impacts of extreme weather disasters and preparing for future catastrophic events. The number of billion-dollar disasters has steadily increased since tracking began in the 1980s. In 2024, there were 27 billion-dollar disaster events. 

Climate Power communications director Alex Glass issued the following statement: 

“Extreme weather disasters are increasingly frequent, costly, and deadly. Trump has already gutted our ability to forecast extreme weather, and now he is eliminating the tools we use to measure its costly impacts. Billion-dollar disasters won’t stop just because we stop tracking them. Trump is trying to hide the true cost of the climate crisis, while American families pay the price.” 

Trump is gutting extreme weather preparedness and response: 

• Trump has gutted NOAA and the National Weather Service, leaving nearly half of NWS forecasting offices critically understaffed with a 20% vacancy rate.
• The extensive cuts to staff at NOAA and the National Weather Service halted or reduced weather balloon launches in at least 11 locations across the country and degraded forecasts during recent extreme weather events, threatening the lifesaving alerts communities rely on.  
• Trump signed an executive order that would shift the responsibility for disaster preparations to state and local governments and canceled $1 billion in funding for resilience projects for communities to prepare for disasters.
• Trump has gutted disaster relief – cutting roughly 20% of the staff responsible for preventing and responding to disasters and recommending making it harder for communities to qualify for federal disaster aid. 
• Trump has ended the tracking of the costs of extreme weather events.