MALVERN, PA — The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season passed without a single U.S. hurricane landfall for the first time in a decade, but it still produced deadly storms, rare high-end hurricanes, and significant economic losses that highlighted growing gaps in preparedness and insurance coverage, according to a new analysis from the Insurance Information Institute.
The institute’s latest issues brief found that while the season produced fewer named storms than initially forecast, four of the five storms that reached hurricane strength intensified into major hurricanes, including three Category 5 systems. That marked only the second year on record in which the Atlantic basin generated more than two Category 5 hurricanes.
Although the United States avoided the catastrophic hurricane landfalls seen in 2024, the season still caused notable damage. Tropical Storm Chantal made landfall in South Carolina, resulting in an estimated $500 million in economic losses, according to a report from reinsurance broker Gallagher Re.
Inland flooding emerged as one of the season’s most consequential threats. Chantal dropped up to 10 inches of rain across parts of North Carolina, where fewer than 1 percent of households carried flood insurance. In Arizona, torrential rain from eastern North Pacific Hurricane Priscilla inundated the towns of Globe and Miami, which were largely uninsured just weeks after earlier flash flooding had already struck the region.
“The 2025 hurricane season is a powerful reminder that the absence of U.S. hurricane landfalls does not equate to reduced risk,” said Sean Kevelighan, chief executive officer of the Insurance Information Institute. “Flooding from weaker or fast-moving storms continues to drive loss of life and economic damage, particularly in inland communities that remain underinsured.”
Global reinsurer Munich Re described the season as “masking sharp regional shocks and a very narrow escape for some of the most insured coastlines,” warning that insured losses from U.S. hurricanes are likely to continue rising as warming ocean temperatures fuel stronger storms and heavier rainfall.
Demographic and development trends are amplifying those risks, the report said. While flood-prone coastal counties in Florida, Texas, New York, and Louisiana recorded net population declines in 2024 for the first time since 2019, population growth in other hazard-exposed areas and the construction of larger, more expensive homes have increased overall exposure and recovery costs nationwide.
The season also underscored the growing role of rapid intensification, defined as an increase in sustained winds of at least 35 mph within 24 hours. A 2025 study by the American Geophysical Union found that more than 80 percent of landfalling U.S. hurricanes since 1980 experienced rapid intensification at some point during their lifecycle.
Phil Klotzbach, a senior research scientist at Colorado State University and a coauthor of the study, said evidence points to a pronounced upward trend, particularly in the North Atlantic. He said storms that intensify rapidly shortly before landfall often leave communities with less time to prepare and tend to weaken more slowly as they move inland, extending their damaging impacts.
The global risks were underscored by Hurricane Melissa, the season’s strongest and deadliest storm worldwide, which rapidly intensified into a Category 5 hurricane before striking Jamaica. The storm killed more than 100 people and caused damage estimated at roughly 40 percent of the country’s 2024 gross domestic product.
At the same time, advances in forecasting and insurance modeling are reshaping how hurricane risk is assessed. Improvements in computing power, data collection, and artificial intelligence are improving predictions of rapid intensification, while alternative indicators such as barometric pressure are increasingly viewed as more accurate measures of destructive potential than wind speed alone.
Klotzbach noted that barometric pressure served as the trigger for a $150 million parametric insurance policy for Jamaica, which paid out in full following Hurricane Melissa. Kevelighan said such innovations can help insurers better price risk and reduce losses when paired with stronger building codes, broader flood insurance coverage, and investments in mitigation.
“These tools are most effective when paired with public-private efforts to close protection gaps and build resilience before the next storm arrives,” Kevelighan said.
More information:
- Insurance Information Institute, Hurricanes: State of the Risk — https://www.iii.org/article/hurricanes-state-of-the-risk
- Gallagher Re, Natural Catastrophe and Climate Report: Q3 2025 — https://www.ajg.com/gallagherre/-/media/files/gallagher/gallagherre/news-and-insights/2025/october/natural-catastrophe-and-climate-report-q3-2025.pdf
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