Energy & Climate
Understanding ‘climateflation’
Extreme weather and fossil fuels added £605 to the average household food shop in 2022 and 2023.
27 January 2025
Main image: Guadalupe river before the flood, flowing over a weir in downtown Kerrville, Texas
Slow-moving downpours that unleashed more than a foot of rainfall along the Guadalupe River and parts of the Texas Hill Country triggered an extreme flash flood disaster over the Independence Day holiday weekend.
The devastating flood claimed more than 80 lives and caused an estimated $18 billion to $22 billion in total damage and economic loss, according to a preliminary estimate from experts at AccuWeather®.
‘The horrific loss of life in this flash flooding disaster is heartbreaking. Our hearts go out to the survivors, first responders, officials and volunteers helping families who have lost loved ones in the flood waters.
‘The normally calm Guadalupe River evolved into a raging torrent in a matter of minutes. Rapidly moving water can result in tremendous destruction and risk to safety, as seen in this tragedy. This is the latest disaster in an area with a long and tragic history of deadly and destructive flash floods.
‘The damage, impacts on future tourism, cost of search and recovery efforts, extensive cleanup that will be needed, as well as insurance claims after this catastrophic flash flood, will have long-lasting economic impacts in the Hill Country region of Texas.
‘AccuWeather estimates the total damage and economic loss from this flooding disaster will reach $18 billion to $22 billion.’
JONATHAN PORTER
AccuWeather® chief meteorologist
A dangerous combination of meteorological conditions contributed to the persistent, heavy rainfall that exceeded 12 inches in some areas, sending river levels rapidly rising roughly 30 feet in the span of one hour.
The AccuWeather® preliminary estimate of total damage and economic loss of $18 billion to $22 billion accounts for damage to homes, businesses, campgrounds, recreation facilities, disruptions to commerce and supply chain logistics, financial losses from extended power outages and road closures, major travel delays, tourism losses and damage to infrastructure, as well as long-term physical and mental health care costs for survivors, families who lost loved ones in the disaster and others impacted by the catastrophic flooding and recovery efforts in the coming weeks and months.
‘Timely flood watches and flash flood warnings were issued by the National Weather Service hours before the peak of the deadly flooding struck. In addition to delivering severe weather warnings from the government through the free AccuWeather app and AccuWeather.com, AccuWeather also issued warnings to our business customers and subscribers of its premium app 30 minutes ahead of the flash flood warning from the National Weather Service.
‘Every sector of the American weather enterprise worked as efficiently and effectively as possible to warn the public about the risk of flooding and the need for people near rivers and other flood-prone areas to prepare and proactively seek higher ground. Our team at AccuWeather and meteorologists across the weather enterprise are devastated by the loss of life.
‘Sadly, the extreme rainfall rates on dry riverbeds, hilly terrain and flood-prone areas, combined with thousands of people camping and vacationing in vulnerable areas over the holiday weekend, and an apparent lack of proactive measures and evacuations initiated based upon available timely warnings, before a destructive wall of water rushed downstream in the early morning hours before sunrise, contributed to this tragic outcome.’
JONATHAN PORTER
AccuWeather® chief meteorologist
Water damage is particularly costly to repair and is often not covered by homeowner’s insurance policies. Many people are often underinsured for flood damage.
An estimated 4% of homeowners in the US have flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), though the uptake in the NFIP program tends to be higher in communities along waterways, such as rivers, where some of the flooding has occurred in this event.
‘The Texas Hill Country is one of the most flash-flood vulnerable parts of the country. You have complex terrain, lots of hills and valleys that water can pour into and often access to Gulf moisture and moisture from the eastern Pacific. The level of the Guadalupe River rapidly increased roughly 30 feet with a fast-moving wall of water in less than an hour. There’s nothing worse than fast-moving water; it will destroy everything in its path. Outside of consideration of this tragedy, why were camps and RV parks where people sleep even built and operated in such close proximity to these high-risk creeks, streams and rivers?’
JONATHAN PORTER
AccuWeather® chief meteorologist
AccuWeather® incorporates independent methods to evaluate all direct and indirect impacts of the storm, includes both insured and uninsured losses and is based on a variety of sources, statistics and unique techniques AccuWeather uses to estimate the damage.
It includes damages to property, job and wage losses, crops, infrastructure, interruption of the supply chain, auxiliary business losses and flight delays.
The estimate also accounts for the costs of evacuations, relocations, emergency management and the extraordinary government expenses for cleanup operations and the long-term effects on business logistics, transportation and tourism, as well as the long-term and short-term health effects and the medical and other expenses of unreported deaths and injuries.
‘A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, which can unleash extreme rainfall rates that rivers, streams and drainage systems are struggling to handle.
‘We face a future with warmer air and higher ocean temperatures, increasing the odds of more extreme rainfall events and more people in harm’s way living and visiting in flood-prone and high-risk areas.’
BRETT ANDERSON
AccuWeather® climate expert and senior meteorologist
This is the fifth preliminary estimate for total damage and economic loss that AccuWeather® experts have issued so far this year, outpacing the frequency of major, costly weather disasters since AccuWeather® began issuing estimates in 2017.
In late January, AccuWeather® experts issued a preliminary estimate of total damage and economic loss of $14 billion to $17 billion for a historic winter storm that brought snow, freezing temperatures and major disruptions to the Gulf Coast and southeastern US.
AccuWeather® experts estimate that historic and deadly wildfires that swept through communities across Los Angeles County, California, in early January caused $250 billion to $275 billion in damages.
In early April, AccuWeather® experts issued a preliminary estimate of total damage and economic loss of $80 billion to $90 billion after a rare multi-day severe weather outbreak and atmospheric river that triggered devastating flash flooding in the central US.
In May, AccuWeather® experts issued a preliminary estimate of total damage and economic loss of $9 billion to $11 billion in total damage and economic loss after a deadly severe weather outbreak with more than 70 tornadoes in the central US, including a destructive EF3 tornado that impacted parts of St. Louis, Missouri.
‘We estimate that flash flooding, tornadoes, wildfires and other extreme weather events in America have caused a combined total damage and economic loss of $371 billion to $415 billion so far this year. This outpaces the frequency of billion-dollar weather disasters since AccuWeather started issuing preliminary estimates after Harvey in 2017. This latest weather disaster in the United States could further complicate the insurance availability and affordability challenges that many Texas families and businesses are struggling with.’
JONATHAN PORTER
AccuWeather® chief meteorologist
AccuWeather® estimates that major weather disasters in the U.S. caused a combined $479 billion to $532 billion in total damage and economic loss in 2024.
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