{"id":17618,"date":"2025-07-18T00:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T00:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/17618\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T00:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T00:15:09","slug":"natural-disasters-cost-the-u-s-economy-a-record-126-billion-in-years-first-half","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/17618\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural Disasters Cost the U.S. Economy a Record $126 Billion in Year\u2019s First Half"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>California wildfires, Midwest tornadoes, and Mississippi floods conspired to cost the U.S. economy a record $126 billion in losses during the first half of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Elevate Your Investing Strategy:<\/p>\n<p>The year\u2019s first half was the costliest on record for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/news\/trump-cancels-4-billion-in-funding-for-california-high-speed-rail-project\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">natural disasters<\/a> in the U.S., according to a report from insurance broker Aon <a data-ticker=\"AON\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/stocks\/aon\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">(AON)<\/a>. In fact, the $126 billion in U.S. natural-disaster losses through the end of June were triple the $41 billion annual average over the past 25 years. <\/p>\n<p>Fires, flooding and tornadoes have led to more than 100 fatalities across America this year as weather grows more extreme and unpredictable, a situation that many scientists blame on climate change. And the record losses for this year do not include the floods that took place in Texas earlier in July.<\/p>\n<p>Global Losses<\/p>\n<p>Worldwide, there were $162 billion in losses from natural disasters during 2025\u2019s first half, also above the annual average of $141 billion. Aon views <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/news\/company-announcements\/aon-extends-ceos-international-assignment-by-one-year\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">all disasters<\/a> that cause at least $25 million in losses, 10 deaths, or 50 injuries to be significant and worth recording.<\/p>\n<p>Notable natural disasters outside the U.S. this year include a drought in Brazil, windstorms in Europe, and an earthquake in Myanmar that caused $12 billion in economic loss and killed nearly 5,500 people. Additionally, the Birch Glacier\u2019s collapse in Switzerland erased most of the village of Blatten in May. <\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead, the average forecast calls for about 15 tropical storms and eight hurricanes this autumn, which is also above the average seen most years.<\/p>\n<p>Is AON Stock a Buy?<\/p>\n<p>The stock of Aon has a consensus Moderate Buy rating among 13 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 10 Buy, two Hold, and one Sell recommendations issued in the last three months. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/stocks\/aon\/forecast\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">average AON price target <\/a>of $411.27 implies 15.99% upside from current levels. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/stocks\/aon\/forecast\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1023\" height=\"857\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-1345.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2207180\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/stocks\/aon\/forecast\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read more analyst ratings on AON stock<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/glossary\/d\/disclaimer-disclosure\" style=\"margin-right: 32px;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Disclaimer &amp; Disclosure<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/glossary\/c\/contact-editor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Report an Issue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California wildfires, Midwest tornadoes, and Mississippi floods conspired to cost the U.S. economy a record $126 billion in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-17618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}