Written by Natalie Todoroff – Edited by Amelia Buckley – 6 Minute read
The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season is here and shaping up to be especially active. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts a 60 percent chance of an above-normal season, forecasting 13 to 19 named storms — three to five of which are predicted to grow to major hurricanes, meaning category 3 or higher. Warmer ocean temperatures, together with heightened West African Monsoon activity and neutral El Niño and La Niña conditions are all poised to make this hurricane season more active than normal.
“In my 30 years at the National Weather Service, we’ve never had more advanced models and warning systems in place to monitor the weather,” said Ken Graham, NOAA’s National Weather Service Director, in a statement. “This outlook is a call to action: be prepared.”
More than 1 in 4 (26 percent) of U.S. homeowners say they are unprepared for the potential costs associated with extreme weather events in their area, according to Bankrate’s 2024 Extreme Weather Survey. To avoid being one of them this hurricane season, make sure you’re ready before a storm rolls through town. Here’s what you need to know.
Not just a coastal problem: Inland homeowners face risk too
If the 2024 hurricane season taught us anything, it’s that all homeowners — not just ones along the coast — need to brace themselves for the coming storms. “Your risk from hurricanes can extend far inland from the landfall location,” says Caitlin Fine, Cotality’s director of forensic meteorology. Cotality’s Hurricane Risk 2025 report found that there are around 33.1 million residential properties with a moderate or greater risk of hurricane wind damage. Combined, these properties have a total reconstruction cost value of $11.7 trillion.
Helene, a category 4 storm that battered the American southeast, was a turning point in how we prepare for hurricanes. Not only did the storm devastate coastal communities, but it also triggered a “one in one thousand year rain event” further inland, according to Fine. Some areas, namely North Carolina, northeastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia, got nearly their annual amount of rainfall in just a few days. However, most flooded homes were not located in federally designated flood zones, and therefore didn’t carry a flood insurance policy. As a result, Cotality estimates that there is a $30.5 to $47.5 billion dollar gap between insured and uninsured losses stemming from Hurricane Helene.
Floods aren’t the only natural disasters that can follow a hurricane. A hurricane can spawn tornadoes, which can travel far beyond the storm’s initial path. Cotality reports that Hurricane Beryl, which hit the Gulf Coast in late June 2024, spawned an estimated 68 tornados across the U.S. over a three-day period. Some cyclones found their way to Illinois, Kentucky, New York and even as far north as Ontario.
How to prepare for hurricane season 2025
It’s hard to think about losing your home to a natural disaster, but should the worst happen, you’ll be glad you had a plan ahead of time. Here are our expert tips on how to prepare for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season as a homeowner:
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This article originally appeared here and was republished with permission.
