We are tracking how the Trump administration’s callous policy choices, before and after bouts of extreme weather, exacerbate avoidable suffering and death.
Please contact [email protected] if you have suggestions about how to improve this resource. Last updated on July 1.
The Trump administration’s ongoing assault on federal workers has left people in the United States more vulnerable than ever to deadly and destructive extreme weather.
The White House’s attacks on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—part of its broader war on science and government in the public interest—means fewer meteorologists to analyze and warn people about impending hazards. Its attacks on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other agencies means fewer planners to prevent and prepare for disasters, fewer aid workers to respond to them, and fewer resources to support recovery and rebuilding.
With worse forecasting and worse coordination, we are only beginning to reap the lethal seeds sown by Trump and Elon Musk, whose so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has inflicted damage that could take years to reverse. (Musk’s fingerprints, i.e., his staffers and AI programs, are still all over DOGE’s austerity and privatization project regardless of his physical presence.)
The Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1 and runs through November 30. NOAA predicted above-normal activity this year, forecasting 13 to 19 total named storms—including 6 to 10 hurricanes, of which 3 to 5 are expected to be major (category 3 or higher). Despite the lack of activity in the Atlantic during June, experts still expect above-average activity through the season. In late May, FEMA rescinded its 2022-2026 strategic plan without having another in place. Internally, senior officials have warned that the agency is ill-prepared. Meanwhile, Trump has signaled that after this hurricane season, states will be on their own.
Making matters worse, we’ve entered the time of year when wildfires tend to be most frequent and severe. The Trump administration’s gutting of the U.S. Forest Service has undermined the agency’s readiness. What’s more, heatwaves—already the deadliest weather-related hazard—are here and will likely prove more fatal in the coming months and years due to the Trump administration’s rollback of efforts to protect people from scorching temperatures at work and in their homes (not to mention its unrelenting support for planet-heating fossil fuels).
This spring, well before the arrival of hurricanes and dangerous heat, communities around the country endured several devastating convective storms, including a spate of deadly tornadoes and flooding. Put simply, the first few months of Trump’s second term gave us a glimpse of the carnage we’ll presumably see, on a bigger scale, in the near future.
In a harbinger of what’s likely to happen this summer and fall, the Trump administration so far has refused to allocate federal disaster aid in a timely manner.
Map: Trump Has Often Delayed or Denied Disaster Aid
The Trump administration hasn’t just been lethargic when it comes to providing relief to disaster-stricken communities. It has also been criminally negligent about disaster prevention and mitigation.
Timeline: Trump’s Attacks on Disaster Preparedness and Response
We will continue to track how the Trump administration’s callous policy choices, before and after bouts of extreme weather, exacerbate avoidable suffering and death.
As long as our society fails to slash heat-trapping emissions, severe weather will continue to increase in frequency and intensity. The White House’s barrage against climate research, environmental regulations, and green industrial policy—a conscious decision to prolong a fossil fuel-powered economy rather than facilitate a clean energy transition—ensures more greenhouse gas pollution, and therefore more destructive heat, fires, and storms.
As long as our government refuses to reduce inequality and invest in lifesaving social welfare programs and built environment upgrades, those extreme weather events will continue to be more catastrophic than they otherwise could have been. The White House’s broadside against unions, progressive taxation, and other mechanisms of downward distribution—including the provision of public goods as varied as safety nets and resilient infrastructure—leaves our society more unequal and less equipped to confront escalating climate disasters, with impacts falling most heavily on the least well-off.
Press Release
Here’s more of our own work on this topic as well as links to other helpful resources.
Related Work by RDP
- Trump’s Attacks on the Environment – RDP tracker
- Trump’s War on Public Data – RDP tracker
- We Need the Federal Government to Protect Us from Climate Chaos – RDP blog post, July 7
- Musk’s DOGE Cuts to AmeriCorps Have Triggered a Nationwide Public Service Collapse – RDP blog post, May 14
- DOGE Is Going to Kill a Lot of Americans – The American Prospect, March 19
- Trump’s Attacks on Weather and Climate Science Put Us All In Danger – RDP blog post, March 7
- DOGE Envisions a Future Without Critical Public Health Services – RDP blog post, February 20
- The Attack on FEMA Begins – RDP blog post, January 28
- Trump’s Attack on Government Capacity Will Fan the Flames of the Home Insurance Crisis – The American Prospect, January 9
Other Resources
- Union of Concerned Scientists – Danger Season
- Rebuild by Design – Atlas of Disaster and Atlas of Accountability
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace – Disaster Dollar Database
The above photo, taken by Elvert Barnes at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network HANDS OFF NOAA Rally on March 3, 2025, is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.