Events

2016
2016
In 2016, 1 Wildfire, 1 Drought, 1 Tropical Cyclone, 4 Flooding, and 8 Severe Storm billion-dollar disaster events affected the United States (CPI-adjusted).
Event
Type
Begin
Date
End
Date
Summary
CPI-Adjusted
Estimated
Cost
(in Billions)
Deaths
West/Northeast/Southeast Drought
2016
DroughtJanuary 1, 2016December 31, 2016California's 5-year drought persisted during 2016 while new areas of extreme drought developed in states across the Northeast and Southeast. The long-term impacts of the drought in California have damaged forests where 100+ million trees have perished and are a public safety hazard. The agricultural impacts were reduced in California as water prices and crop fallowing declined. However, agricultural impacts developed in Northeast and Southeast due to stressed water supplies.$4.6 CI0
Hurricane Matthew
October 2016
Tropical CycloneOctober 8, 2016October 12, 2016Category 1 hurricane made landfall in North Carolina, after it paralleled the Southeast coast along Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas causing widespread damage from wind, storm surge and inland flooding. The most costly impacts were due to historic levels of river flooding in eastern North Carolina where 100,000 homes, businesses and other structures were damaged. This inland flooding was comparable to Hurricane Floyd (1999) that also impacted eastern North Carolina. Matthew narrowly missed landall on Florida's east coast as a powerful category 4 storm.$13.1 CI49
Louisiana Flooding
August 2016
FloodingAugust 12, 2016August 15, 2016A historic flood devastated a large area of southern Louisiana resulting from 20 to 30 inches of rainfall over several days. Watson, Louisiana received an astounding 31.39 inches of rain from the storm. Two-day rainfall totals in the hardest hit areas have a 0.2% chance of occurring in any given year: a 1 in 500 year event. More than 30,000 people were rescued from the floodwaters that damaged or destroyed over 50,000 homes, 100,000 vehicles and 20,000 businesses. This is the most damaging U.S. flood event since Superstorm Sandy impacted the Northeast in 2012.$13.3 CI13
Rockies and Northeast Severe Weather
July 2016
Severe StormJuly 28, 2016July 30, 2016Severe storms across the Rockies and Northeastern states (CO, WY, VA, MD, PA, NJ, NY) caused large hail and high wind damage. Storm damage in Colorado was the most costly due to hail.$1.9 CI0
West Virginia Flooding and Ohio Valley Tornadoes
June 2016
FloodingJune 22, 2016June 24, 2016Torrential rainfall caused destructive flooding through many West Virginia towns, damaging thousands of homes and businesses and causing considerable loss of life. Over 1,500 roads and bridges were damaged or destroyed making the impact on infrastructure comparable to the historic 2013 Colorado flood. The storm system also produced numerous tornadoes causing damage across several Ohio Valley states.$1.3 CI23
Rockies/Central Tornadoes and Severe Weather
May 2016
Severe StormMay 21, 2016May 26, 2016Sustained period of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes affecting several states including Montana, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Texas. The most concentrated days for tornado development were on May 22 and 24. Additional damage was created by straight-line high wind and hail damage.$1.5 CI0
Plains Tornadoes and Central Severe Weather
May 2016
Severe StormMay 8, 2016May 11, 2016Tornadoes and severe storms cause widespread damage across the Plains and Central states (NE, MO, TX, OK, KS, CO, IL, KY, TN) over a multi-day period. The damage from tornadoes and high wind was most costly in Nebraska and Missouri.$2.3 CI2
South/Southeast Tornadoes
April 2016
Severe StormApril 26, 2016May 2, 2016Large outbreak of tornadoes affects numerous states across the South and Southeast. Additional damage also from large hail and straight-line wind during the multi-day thunderstorm event.$3.2 CI6
Houston Flooding
April 2016
FloodingApril 17, 2016April 18, 2016A period of extreme rainfall up to 17 inches created widespread urban flooding in Houston and surrounding suburbs. Thousands of homes and businesses were damaged and more than 1,800 high water rescues were conducted. This represents the most widespread flooding event to affect Houston since Tropical Storm Allison in 2001.$3.6 CI8
North/Central Texas Hail Storm
April 2016
Severe StormApril 10, 2016April 12, 2016Widespread severe hail damage across north and central Texas including the cities of Plano, Wylie, Frisco, Allen and San Antonio. The damage in San Antonio was particularly severe as the National Weather Service verified reports of hail size reaching 4.5 inches in diameter. This ranks as one of the most costly hail events to affect the United States.$4.6 CI0
North Texas Hail Storm
March 2016
Severe StormMarch 23, 2016March 24, 2016Large hail and strong winds caused considerable damage in heavily populated areas of north Texas. This damage was most notable in the cities of Dallas, Fort Worth and Plano.$2.7 CI0
Southern Severe Weather
March 2016
Severe StormMarch 17, 2016March 18, 2016Severe hail impacts the Fort Worth and Arlington metro region in Texas. Additional large hail and high wind damage occurred in other locations of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.$1.6 CI1
Texas and Louisiana Flooding
March 2016
FloodingMarch 8, 2016March 12, 2016Multiple days of heavy rainfall averaging 15 to 20 inches led to widespread flooding along the Sabine River basin on the Texas and Louisiana border. This prompted numerous evacuations, high-water rescues and destruction, as more than 1,000 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed.$3.1 CI5
Southeast and Eastern Tornadoes
February 2016
Severe StormFebruary 22, 2016February 24, 2016Early outbreak of tornadoes and severe weather across many southern and eastern states including (AL, CT, FL, GA, LA, MA, MD, MS, NC, NJ, NY, PA, SC, TX, VA). There were at least 50 confirmed tornadoes causing widespread damage.$1.4 CI10

The confidence interval (CI) probabilities (75%, 90% and 95%) represent the uncertainty associated with the disaster cost estimates. Monte Carlo simulations were used to produce upper and lower bounds at these confidence levels (Smith and Matthews, 2015).

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