California senator calls on NOAA to restore 'billion-dollar' disaster database

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democratic Senator Adam Schiff connected Tuesday urged Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's acting caput to reconstruct a database that tracked billion-dollar U.S. disasters.

He said its removal prevented lawmakers, security companies and taxpayers from seeing the increasing outgo of much predominant earthy disasters and from readying for aboriginal utmost upwind events.

NOAA announced past week it was removing the “billion-dollar upwind and clime disasters” database from its website "in alignment with evolving priorities," the latest illustration of the bureau ending ongoing technological datasets.

Schiff, who represents California, besides warned that sweeping occupation cuts astatine NOAA person near the bureau understaffed up of hurricane season, which begins June 1, saying that 30 of 122 upwind forecast offices astatine the National Weather Service deficiency main meteorologists.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The database showed that the fig of billion-dollar disasters grew from conscionable a fewer per twelvemonth successful the 1980s to an mean of 23 per twelvemonth implicit the past 4 years, which clime scientists person attributed to a emergence successful planetary temperatures. In 2024, the database showed 27 confirmed catastrophe events whose losses exceeded $1 cardinal each successful 2024.

CONTEXT

The Trump medication has moved rapidly to reverse and region each national spending related to clime alteration and region immoderate regularisation aimed astatine addressing greenhouse state emissions arsenic portion of its effort to bolster oil, state and mining operations.

KEY QUOTE

"The termination of this database ... suggests that this programme whitethorn person been targeted due to the fact that it shows the American nationalist conscionable however overmuch clime alteration has been fueling much predominant billion-dollar upwind disasters," Schiff said successful a statement. "If this is the case, it is disturbing that the medication would similar to support the nationalist successful the acheronian astir the effects of clime alteration and hinder the country’s quality to forestall and mitigate the human, economic, and biology costs of utmost upwind events."

(Reporting by Valerie VolcoviciEditing by Rod Nickel)