The Price of Breakdown: A Planet Under Siege in 2025

Wazzup Pilipinas!? 

The year 2025 was not merely a period of record-breaking heat; it was the year the global climate reached a terrifying breaking point. From the scorched hills of Los Angeles to the submerged villages of Southeast Asia, the world witnessed a relentless sequence of "avoidable tragedies" fueled by the continued burning of fossil fuels. As governments and corporations weighed the cost of transition, the planet presented its own invoice: a staggering multi-billion dollar toll in property damage and, more tragically, thousands of lives lost to a crisis they did little to cause.

The Inferno and the Flood: North America’s Trial

The year began with an apocalyptic display of "fire weather" in California. The Palisades and Eaton Fires erupted in January, a month usually reserved for winter rains, spreading with a ferocity that defied containment. Driven by prolonged drought and unusually high temperatures—conditions made 35% more likely by human-induced climate change—the flames obliterated entire neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

The Cost: Over $60 billion in economic losses, making it the most expensive wildfire event in U.S. history.

The Human Toll: While 31 deaths were initially recorded, subsequent studies revealed the true impact was closer to 431 fatalities.

By July, the element of destruction shifted from fire to water as Texas was struck by catastrophic flash flooding. A slow-moving storm unleashed up to 8 meters of rain in just 45 minutes, a surge so rapid it overwhelmed campers in the dead of night, claiming at least 135 lives.

Supercharged Storms: The Assault on the Global South

In late November, a rare and deadly alignment of three storm systems—Cyclone Senyar, Cyclone Ditwah, and Typhoon Koto—devastated South and Southeast Asia. These storms were "supercharged" by rising ocean temperatures, which allow the atmosphere to hold more moisture and release it with lethal intensity.

A Region in Ruin: More than 1,750 people died across Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam, and Malaysia. In Sri Lanka alone, two-thirds of the nation's rail lines were destroyed.

Economic Paralysis: The combined cost for this single cluster of storms is estimated to exceed $25 billion.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Melissa became the most powerful storm ever to strike Jamaica. Rapidly intensifying over "unusually warm" Caribbean waters, it made landfall with winds reaching 296 km/h, causing widespread destruction and at least 45 deaths.

The Silent Killers: Drought and Heat

While storms grab headlines, slow-onset disasters in 2025 proved equally transformative.

Brazil's Dust Bowl: A persistent drought affected more than half of Brazil by mid-year, drying up urban water supplies and crippling the agricultural sector to the tune of $4.75 billion.

The Middle East Crisis: A five-year drought continued to grip Iran and West Asia. In Tehran, home to 10 million people, authorities warned that an ongoing water crisis might soon necessitate the evacuation of the capital itself.

Japan's Extreme Year: Japan endured its hottest summer on record, with temperatures peaking at 41.8°C in Isesaki. This heat followed massive February snowstorms that were 10% more intense due to climate change.

A Political Choice

The report from Counting the Cost 2025 is clear: the suffering of this year was not an act of God, but a "political choice". While renewable energy is now the cheapest form of electricity, trillions in subsidies continue to flow into the very fossil fuel projects that fuel these disasters.

For the communities in the Global South, 2025 was a year of permanent loss and damage. As the planet heads into 2026, the demand for rich, polluting nations to pay for the "polluter-pays" principle has never been more urgent. Without a rapid shift, the financial and human costs documented this year are merely a preview of the breakdown to come.

Consumers call an end to January brownout cycle

December 29, 2025 – A consumer group is urging power distributors and electric cooperatives to end what it calls the annual “January Brownout” tradition while urging the power sector to come up with reliability plan to prevent this from happening. 

In the last two years, the Partners for Affordable and Reliable Energy noted that, at the turn of the New Year, there have been seemingly more frequent and widespread power outages in January. 

On January 2, 2024, just a day after New Year celebrations, Western Visayas, including Panay and Guimaras, was plunged into a massive blackout. The outage lasted for several days, affecting around 4.5 million people and causing hundreds of millions in estimated economic losses. Full power was restored only by January 5.

In early January 2025, consumers again endured a wave of scheduled and unscheduled power interruptions in parts of Luzon and the Visayas. Maintenance work and system issues forced many families to adjust their work, school, and small-business operations around hours without electricity.

Filipino households have now welcomed both January 2024 and January 2025 in the dark. Blackouts and prolonged interruptions turned what should be a season of joy into a period of anxiety, lost income, and daily disruption. As the country enters January 2026, consumers expect a power sector that prioritizes reliability over excuses and press statements, and that treats every home as a priority rather than collateral damage of a fragile energy system.

Nic Satur Jr., Chief Advocate Officer of PARE, emphasized that the recurring pattern of holiday and New Year outages is unacceptable. He noted that households already pay one of the highest electricity rates in Southeast Asia.

In Western Visayas, the January 2024 blackout left Panay and Guimaras in darkness for days. Residents and businesses were severely affected, exposing how vulnerable the grid becomes when multiple power plants trip simultaneously.

“Families who faithfully pay their bills each month should not have to welcome the new year worrying about whether the lights will stay on,” Satur said.

“For two straight years, Filipino families have started January with brownouts instead of stability,” Satur added. “This 2026, consumers are not asking for miracles. We are asking for a power sector that does its basic job and keeps the lights on.”

For PARE and allied consumer groups, January 2026 should serve as a test of whether government and industry have learned from the Panay crisis and subsequent interruptions. 

They argue that this year should bring fewer large-scale outages, faster restoration times, lower system losses, and clear, verifiable plans to prevent a repeat of January 2024 and 2025. “If after all the Senate and Congress hearings and statements we still start 2026 in the dark, then the government has chosen excuses over consumers,” Satur said.

The group is calling on DOE, NGCP, ERC, NEA, and distribution utilities to publish a January reliability plan jointly. This plan should detail available reserves, contingency measures, and safeguards for vulnerable islands and provinces.

It should also ensure that critical power plants follow approved maintenance schedules, that workable backup options are in place when large units trip, and that transmission constraints do not once again turn January power interruptions into island-wide blackouts. 

The 21-Hour Countdown: Unmasking the Lethal Patterns of Philippine Storms

Wazzup Pilipinas!? 

In the heart of one of the world’s most cyclone-prone regions, time isn't just a measurement—it’s a lifeline. A groundbreaking study by meteorologists at the University of the Philippines – Diliman (UPD) has peeled back the curtain on 45 years of atmospheric chaos, revealing a startling truth: while storms may linger in Philippine waters for days, their final, most dangerous approach to the coast lasts an average of only 21 hours.

This razor-thin window for survival is the focal point of a new analysis by Drs. Bernard Alan Racoma and Gerry Bagtasa. By examining 372 landfalling tropical cyclones (TCs) from 1979 to 2024, the researchers have mapped a "tale of two latitudes" that defines how the Philippines faces disaster.

A Country Divided by Hazard

The study reveals a stark geographical divide in how storms behave, creating unique nightmares for different parts of the archipelago:

The Northern Siege (Luzon): Storms striking the north are often massive, slow-moving titans. Their lethality lies in their persistence; by lingering over the land, they trigger catastrophic, prolonged flooding and devastating landslides.

The Southern Sprint (Visayas and Mindanao): In contrast, southern storms are the "sprinters" of the atmosphere. These systems tend to be faster and accelerate more rapidly as they approach, leaving coastal communities with almost no time to react or evacuate.

Dr. Racoma notes that the Philippines’ "slender" geometry—stretched long from north to south but narrow from east to west—means TCs traveling westward cross the country with terrifying speed. Furthermore, because these storms lose their "fuel" (the warm ocean) the moment they hit land, they rarely linger, making every minute of their 21-hour coastal presence critical.

The Peril of "Rapid Intensification"

Perhaps the most chilling finding is the unpredictability of a storm's strength. The researchers warn against the "wait and see" approach to preparedness.

"Rapid intensification occurs very fast—typically within 24 hours," Dr. Racoma emphasizes. "We should avoid waiting for a storm to intensify before preparing".

Shockingly, half of all tropical cyclones that enter or form within the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) will eventually make landfall, and it is precisely within this region that many undergo a sudden, explosive increase in power.

A Call for Radical Preparedness

The message from UPD’s Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology is clear: understanding the clock is as important as understanding the wind.

Key Recommendations for Communities:

Treat every developing storm as a major threat, regardless of its initial category.

Monitor the PAR constantly, as the window from entry to landfall is the primary zone for rapid intensification.

Recognize regional risks, whether it is the slow-moving floods of the north or the high-speed strikes of the south.

Published in Tropical Cyclone Research and Review, this study serves as a scientific siren, urging a shift in how the nation perceives the "21-hour" countdown before the sky falls.