Events

2019
2019
In 2019, 1 Wildfire, 8 Severe Storm, 2 Tropical Cyclone, and 3 Flooding billion-dollar disaster events affected the United States (CPI-adjusted).
Event
Type
Begin
Date
End
Date
Summary
CPI-Adjusted
Estimated
Cost
(in Billions)
Deaths
California and Alaska Wildfires
Summer-Fall 2019
WildfireJune 1, 2019November 30, 2019California 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.$5.5 CI3
Texas Tornadoes and Central Severe Weather
October 2019
Severe StormOctober 20, 2019October 20, 2019Numerous tornadoes caused widespread damage across northern Dallas damaging thousands of homes, vehicles, businesses and other public infrastructure. Tornadoes up to EF-3 intensity with maximum winds of 140 mph tracked across a large section of highly developed northern Dallas. Additionally high winds and hail damage also caused damage in other states including Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee.$2.1 CI2
Tropical Storm Imelda
September 2019
Tropical CycloneSeptember 17, 2019September 21, 2019Tropical storm and its remnants cause 24 to 36 inches of rainfall 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.$6.2 CI5
Hurricane Dorian
September 2019
Tropical CycloneAugust 28, 2019September 6, 2019Category 1 hurricane makes 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 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. Dorian's intensification to a category 5 storm marks the fourth consecutive year, in which a maximum category 5 storm developed in the Atlantic basin - a new record. Dorian also tied the record for maximum sustained wind speed for a landfalling hurricane (185 mph) in the Atlantic, a record shared with the historic 1935 Labor Day Hurricane.$2.0 CI10
Mississippi River, Midwest and Southern Flooding
July 2019
FloodingMarch 15, 2019July 31, 2019Additional major flooding impacted many Southern Plains states 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.$7.6 CI4
Colorado Hail Storms
July 2019
Severe StormJuly 4, 2019July 5, 2019Colorado hail storms across the Denver and Fort Collins that damaged many homes and vehicles.$1.2 CI0
Arkansas River Flooding
June 2019
FloodingMay 20, 2019June 14, 2019Historic flooding impacts the Arkansas River Basin with damage to homes, agriculture, roads, bridges and levees focused across eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. Thousands of homes, cars and businesses were flooded due a combination of high rivers, levee failure and persistently heavy rainfall from May 20 through June.$3.7 CI5
Rockies, Central and Northeast Tornadoes and Severe Weather
May 2019
Severe StormMay 26, 2019May 29, 2019A four-day tornado outbreak impacts many states across the Rockies, Central and Northeast (CO, WY, NE, KS, OK, MO, IA, IL, IN, OH, PA and NJ). This outbreak produced 190 tornadoes in addition to hundreds of reports of damaging hail and straight-line thunderstorm winds. Of particular note was an EF-4 tornado that produced heavy damage near the city of Dayton, Ohio on May 27.$5.7 CI3
Central Severe Weather
May 2019
Severe StormMay 16, 2019May 18, 2019Central severe storms across the Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Texas damaged many homes, businesses and vehicles.$1.2 CI0
South and Southeast Severe Weather
May 2019
Severe StormMay 7, 2019May 13, 2019Persistent severe storms impacted numerous states from Texas to North Carolina (TX, OK, KS, AR, LA, MS, AL, NC). Tornadoes and damaging hail particularly affected Texas, Louisiana and North Carolina focused across the Raleigh metro region.$1.9 CI0
Southern and Eastern Tornadoes and Severe Weather
April 2019
Severe StormApril 13, 2019April 14, 2019Tornado outbreak and severe storms impacted many states (TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, NC, OH and PA). More than 50 tornadoes occurred across central Mississippi and Alabama causing damage to vehicles, homes and businesses. More than 25 additional tornadoes also caused damage across several eastern states from Georgia to Pennsylvania. These severe storms also delivered damaging hail and high wind damage that was widespread across many Southern and and Eastern states.$1.5 CI7
Missouri River and North Central Flooding
March 2019
FloodingMarch 14, 2019March 31, 2019Historic Midwest flooding inundated millions of acres of agriculture, numerous cities and towns, and caused widespread damage to roads, bridges, levees, and dams. The states most affected were Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Michigan. This flood was triggered by a powerful storm with heavy precipitation that intensified snow melt and flooding. Of note, the Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska was also severely flooded - the third U.S. military base to be damaged by a billion-dollar disaster event over a 6-month period (Sept 2018-Feb 2019). This historic flooding was one of the costliest U.S. inland flooding events on record.$13.4 CI3
Texas Hail Storm
March 2019
Severe StormMarch 22, 2019March 24, 2019Texas hail storm over the Dallas metroplex damaged many homes, businesses and vehicles. Oklahoma also received hail damage resulting from the same severe weather system.$1.9 CI0
Southeast, Ohio Valley and Northeast Severe Weather
February 2019
Severe StormFebruary 23, 2019February 25, 2019Tornadoes, severe weather and flooding in the south (MS, AL, TN) and high-wind damage across many Ohio Valley (IL, IN, OH) and Northeastern states (CT, MD, MA, NJ, NY, PA, VA, WV). This storm system produced heavy rain that caused major flooding along parts of the Ohio, Mississippi and Tennessee rivers.$1.5 CI2

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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