Hurricanes are a major risk to the insurance industry. The powerful winds and floods associated with these storms cause millions and billions of dollars in damage in the United States alone. Natural disasters as a whole, as stated in the introduction, caused $2,918.1 billion of damage in the United States from 1980 to 2024. A whopping $1,543.3 billion, which translates to 53 percent, of those damages were from tropical cyclones, a general term encompassing hurricanes, tropical storms, and tropical depressions. Roughly 26 percent, or $398.7 billion, of those damages were inflicted between 2020 and 2024. For perspective, think of it in terms of average tropical cyclone damage per year: Seventy-four percent of the total damages from tropical cyclones occurred over a span of 40 years, for an average $28.6 billion each year. The remaining 26 percent of the damages occurred in the past five years, averaging $79.7 billion per year, more than double the average of the previous 40 years.
This article is one in a series of charts providing information on tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, blizzards, and volcanoes.
Dangers of Hurricanes - Wind and Water
The powerful winds associated with hurricanes are also apt to spawn tornadoes, which we describe in depth here. Hurricane-force winds can pick up debris or other loose objects and send them through the air until they make contact with another object causing damage. Strong hurricane winds can rip all or part of a roof off a building, weakening the structure and making it “easier” for the walls to collapse. Once the roof is damaged or removed, water can readily enter and flood the building. A company called Cotality conducted a survey and found more than 33 million residential properties in states along the Gulf of Mexico—Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama—and up the entire Eastern Seaboard—Florida to Maine—were at moderate risk or higher from hurricane-force winds.
For hurricanes, flooding and storm surge are two of the deadliest threats. Storm surge is how much the water level rises above what is considered “normal”. Storm surge is particularly dangerous for coastal areas because they are barely above sea level. Homes in flood zones are rapidly losing value—in some cases up to 18 percent per square foot—due to the rising risks of hurricanes and floods. The problem isn’t so much the physical location of a property as it is the difficulty in finding affordable insurance coverage, if coverage is available at all. Some insurers have fully or partially ceased writing certain lines of business in high-risk states, such as Florida and Texas. Though homeowners can still obtain coverage from state-backed insurers, those insurers face increasing costs and financial pressure as the number of insureds grows.
Hurricane Intensity - Sustained Wind Speed and Air Pressure
Tropical cyclones, the umbrella term that covers tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes, are measured on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. This scale is based on the maximum sustained wind speed of a storm, which is calculated based on an average of certain values as measured over two consecutive minutes. A storm system with sustained winds of 38 mph or lower is called a tropical depression. When a storm reaches a sustained wind speed of 39 mph, it crosses into tropical storm territory and is given a name. When a tropical storm’s maximum sustained winds reach 75 mph or faster, it becomes a hurricane. Hurricanes are rated on a 1 to 5 scale based on the maximum sustained wind speed.
The other measure of a hurricane’s intensity is the atmospheric pressure, which refers to the air pressure as measured at or near the center of a hurricane, as measured in millibars (mb). A hurricane’s atmospheric pressure will change as the storm gets stronger or weaker; in general, lower pressure is associated with stronger storms. The atmospheric pressure for a Category 5 hurricane is usually between 900mb and 920 mb. An atmospheric pressure under 900 mb is rare, but not unheard of. As of May 2025, only six Atlantic hurricanes have reached an atmospheric pressure 899 mb or lower at their strongest:
- Wilma - 2005 - 882 mb
- Gilbert - 1988 - 888 mb
- “Labor Day” Hurricane - 1935 - 892 mb
- Rita - 2005 - 895 mb
- Milton - 2024 - 897 mb
- Allen - 1980 - 899 mb
Costliest Storms
The storms listed below are the 10 costliest hurricanes as measured by the amount of property damage as of May 2025. Damages have been adjusted for inflation and are given in billions of U.S. dollars. All of the hurricane names on this list have been retired.
- Katrina - 2005 - $201.3B
- Harvey - 2017 - $160B
- Ian - 2022 - $119.6B
- Maria - 2017 - $115.2B
- Sandy - 2012 - $88.5B
- Ida - 2021 - $84.5B
- Helene - 2024 - $78.7B
- Irma - 2017 - $64B
- Andrew - 1992 - $60.5B
- Ike - 2008 - $43.2B