2010-2019: A landmark decade of U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters

Mississippi River and Midwest Flooding (March-July 2019): $6.2 billion, 4 deaths

Additional major flooding impacted many Southern Plains states through the spring and summer, significantly affecting agriculture, roads, bridges, levees, dams, and other assets across many cities and towns. The states most affected were Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Very high water levels also disrupted barge traffic along the Mississippi River, which negatively impacted a variety of dependent industries. Indiana and Ohio were also affected by persistent heavy rainfall that flooded farmland, which prevented and reduced crop planting by millions of acres.

Hurricane Dorian (September 2019): $1.6 billion, 10 deaths

Category 1 Hurricane Dorian made landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina after devastating the northern Bahama Islands as a historically powerful and slow-moving hurricane. Dorian tracked offshore parallel to the Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina coastline before making a North Carolina landfall, bringing a destructive sound-side storm surge that inundated many coastal properties and isolated residents who did not evacuate. Significant flood, severe storm, and tornado damage to many homes and businesses occurred on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

NOAA satellite image of Hurricane Dorian over the Bahamas in September 2019. NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab. 

Dorian's intensification to a Category 5 storm marks the fourth consecutive year in which a Category 5 storm developed in the Atlantic basin—a new record. Dorian also tied the record for maximum sustained wind speed for a land-falling hurricane (185 mph) in the Atlantic, a record shared with the historic 1935 Labor Day Hurricane.

Tropical Storm Imelda (September 2019): $5.0 billion, 5 deaths

Tropical Storm Imelda and its remnants caused 24–36 inches of rain over a 3-day period across a large area between Houston and Beaumont, Texas. The largest storm total, 43.39 inches, was reported at North Fork Taylors Bayou, Texas. Many thousands of homes, cars, and businesses were impacted by flood water due to this extraordinarily heavy rainfall. Imelda is yet another of the historically extreme rainfall and flood events that have become a regular occurrence across Southeast Texas over the last 5 years.

Flooding in Roman Forest, Texas, on Sep 19, 2019 from Tropical Storm Imelda. Photo by Jill Carlson, used under Creative Commons license. 

California and Alaska Wildfires (Summer-Fall 2019): $4.5 billion, 3 deaths

California experienced a damaging wildfire season in 2019, largely resulting from the Kincade and Saddle Ridge wildfires. In addition, a key California electrical utility provider turned off power to millions of homes and businesses several times during days with forecasted high winds and extremely dry conditions. This step was designed to minimize wildfires, with some success, but it also caused billions of dollars in losses to those affected. Alaska also suffered a near-historic wildfire season with more than 2.5 million acres burned. These wildfire conditions were primed due to Alaska's record-breaking heat and dry conditions during the summer months. July 2019 was the warmest month ever recorded in Alaska.

The remains of Soda Rock Winery, Jimtown, California, on November 2, 2019, after the Kincade Fire.  Photo by Mark Gunn, used under a Creative Commons license.

Distribution of costs and fatalities by disaster type

The distribution of damage from U.S. billion-dollar disaster events from 1980–2019 is dominated by tropical cyclone losses. Tropical cyclones have caused the most damage ($945.9 billion) and also have the highest average event cost ($21.5 billion per event). Hurricanes are responsible for slightly more than half (53.9%) of the total losses for all U.S. billion-dollar disasters but represent less than one-fifth (17.1%) of all the billion-dollar events we have assessed since 1980. 

Drought ($249.7 billion), severe storms ($247.8 billion) and inland flooding ($146.5 billion,) have also caused considerable damage. Severe storms have caused the highest number of billion-dollar disaster events (113), while the average event cost is the lowest ($2.2 billion). Tropical cyclones and flooding represent the second and third most frequent event types (44 and 32), respectively. Tropical cyclones are responsible for the highest number of deaths (6,502), followed by drought/heatwave events (2,993), and severe storms (1,642).

This table shows the breakdown, by hazard type, of the 258 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters assessed since 1980. Screenshot from NOAA NCEI Billion-dollar Disasters webpage.

The increase in population and material wealth over the last several decades, are an important cause for the rising costs. These trends are further complicated by the fact that much of the growth has taken place in vulnerable areas like coasts and river floodplains. Vulnerability is especially high where building codes are insufficient for reducing damage from extreme events.

Climate change is also paying a role in the increasing frequency of some types of extreme weather that lead to billion-dollar disasters—most notably the rise in vulnerability to drought, lengthening wildfire seasons in the Western states, and the potential for extremely heavy rainfall becoming more common in the eastern states. Each of these changes in extremes are becoming more visible in relation to the influence of climate change (NCA 2018, Chapter 2).

The geography of billion-dollar disaster events by type

The U.S. is weather and climate conscious for good reason, as each geographic region faces a unique combination of recurring hazards. In fact, billion-dollar disaster events have touched every U.S. state. The maps below reflect the frequency with which each state has been part of a billion-dollar disaster event (i.e., the totals do not mean that each state alone suffered $1 billion in losses for each event).

These maps show the number of times each state has been affected by each of six types of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters from 1980-2019. Note that each state did not necessarily experience the full billion-dollar cost for an event to be counted; it only needed to be part of a regional event that caused one billion dollars or more in direct damages. Screenshots from NOAA NCEI Billion-dollar Disasters webpage.

Each disaster type has a distinct footprint of impact over time. We see wildfire impacts largely west of the Plains states, with a few Southeast impacts. However, the most intense and destructive wildfires occur in California–most notably after the year 2000.

There is also a high frequency of inland flooding events that occur in states adjacent to large rivers or the Gulf of Mexico, which is a warm source of moisture to fuel rainstorms. Drought impacts are mostly focused in the Southern and Plains states where there are billions of dollars in agriculture and livestock assets.

Crop freeze events have become more sporadic since the early 1990s, but these events can still cause considerable damage in the fruit-producing states of California, Florida, and other southeastern states such as Georgia and South Carolina.

Severe local storm events are common in the Plains and into the Ohio River Valley states. Winter storm impacts are concentrated in the Northeast given the population density and more assets exposed to powerful Nor’easters bringing wind, snow, icing and storm surge. Tropical cyclones are the most costly disaster we assess that create impacts from Texas to New England, but also include many inland states, often as a result of extreme rainfall and inland flood damage.

This map depicts the number of times each state was part of a billion-dollar weather or climate disaster since 1980, regardless of hazard type. Note that each disaster did not necessarily cause one billion dollars in damages in an individual state to be included in this total. Screenshot from NOAA NCEI Billion-dollar Disasters webpage.

In total, from 1980–2019, the U.S. South/Central and Southeast regions experienced a higher frequency of billion-dollar disaster events than any other regions, as shown in the red total disaster frequency map. The South has also suffered the highest cumulative damage costs, reflecting the diversity, frequency, and severity of weather and climate events impacting the region.

Each state has been affected by at least 1 billion-dollar disaster since 1980. Texas has experienced the highest number of events (111) and is one of the few states that have been impacted by all seven types of the billion-dollar disasters we analyze.

This map of U.S. states and Puerto Rico shows total estimated costs borne by each state from billion-dollar weather and climate disasters from 1980-2019. Screenshot from NOAA NCEI Billion-dollar Disasters webpage.

Adjusted for inflation, the South/Central and Southeast regions of the U.S., including the Caribbean U.S. territories, have suffered the highest cumulative damage costs, reflecting the severity and widespread vulnerability of those regions to a variety of weather and climate events. In addition to the highest number of billion-dollar disasters experienced, Texas also leads the U.S. in total cumulative costs (~$250 billion) from billion-dollar disasters since 1980. Florida is the second-leading state in total costs since 1980 (~$225 billion), largely the result of destructive hurricane impacts.

Yet, another way to examine damage is to compare each state’s annual disaster losses relative to their Gross State Product (GSP), which represents economic output. In 2019, the Midwest states suffered extensive losses from the worst flooding since 1993.

A map of U.S. states shows the costs of billion-dollar disasters in 2019 as a percent of each state's gross state product. Darkest reds show states with highest percent damages, which are found in South Dakota and Nebraska, which suffered from significant flooding in spring and summer 2019. Screenshot from NOAA NCEI Billion-dollar Disaster webpage.

All of the tables and maps shown in this article are screenshots from NCEI’s interactive Billion-dollar Disasters webpage. Visit the page to create your own summaries or download source data. In 2020, NCEI will continue to incorporate new layers and filters that offer added flexibility to the online tools for additional context and analysis. For additional context on data sources, methods, metrics and caveats see: Calculating the Cost of Weather and Climate Disasters.

* Editor's note [January 10, 2019]. Due to a typo, an earlier version of this article cited the number of events as 248. The correct number is 258.