Hurricanes, fires, floods: US saw 14 disasters in 2019 that cost billions of dollars
The United States had 14 major weather disasters last year, with a toll of at least 44 dead and a price tag of $45 billion, according to federal officials.
The biggest disasters of 2019 include eight severe storms, mainly in the South and Midwest, three big inland flooding events, two tropical cyclones that made landfall, and the wildfires in California and Alaska.
“The extreme weather with the most widespread impact was the historically persistent and destructive U.S. flooding across more than 15 states. The combined cost of just the Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi River basin flooding ($20 billion) was almost half of the U.S. cost total in 2019,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
Last year was the second-wettest year on record for the United States, NOAA said.
The contiguous United States saw almost 35 inches of precipitation in 2019, almost five inches above average, the National Centers for Environmental Information reported. Last year was just 0.18 inches short of the record set in 1973, according to federal data.
Some climate data did set new records for the year. Alaska saw its hottest year on record in 2019, climate scientists said.
“Georgia and North Carolina also saw their hottest year on record, while Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin each had their wettest year ever recorded,” according to NOAA.
“During the 2010s, the nation saw a trend of an increasing number of billion-dollar inland flooding events. Even after adjusting for inflation, the U.S. experienced more than twice the number of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters during the 2010s (119) as compared with the 2000s (59),” NOAA said in its annual report.
2019’s biggest weather disasters
Here are the costliest natural disasters in the United States from 2019, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information:
▪ Southeast, Ohio Valley and Northeast Severe Weather, February 2019: “Tornadoes, 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.” Cost: $1.3 billion and two people died.
▪ Missouri River and North Central Flooding, March 2019: “Historic 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.” Cost: $10.8 billion and three deaths.
▪ Mississippi River, Midwest and Southern Flooding, March-July 2019: “Additional 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.” Cost $6.2 billion and four deaths.
▪ Texas Hail Storm, March 2019: “Texas hail storm over the Dallas metroplex damaged many homes, businesses and vehicles. Oklahoma also received hail damage resulting from the same severe weather system.” Cost: $1.6 billion.
▪ Southern and Eastern Tornadoes and Severe Weather, April 2019: “Tornado 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.” Cost: $1.3 billion and seven people died.
▪ South and Southeast Severe Weather, May 2019: “Persistent 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.” Cost: $1.5 billion.
▪ Central Severe Weather, May 2019: “Central severe storms across the Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Texas damaged many homes, businesses and vehicles.” Cost: $1 billion.
▪ Arkansas River Flooding, May-June 2019: “Historic 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.” Cost: $3 billion and five deaths.
▪ Rockies, Central and Northeast Tornadoes and Severe Weather, May 2019: “A 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.” Cost: $4.5 billion and three people died.
▪ California and Alaska Wildfires, Summer-Fall 2019: “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.” Cost: $4.5 billion and three deaths.
▪ Colorado Hail Storms, July 2019: “Colorado hail storms across the Denver and Fort Collins that damaged many homes and vehicles.” Cost $1 billion.
▪ Hurricane Dorian, August-September 2019: “Category 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.” Cost: $1.6 billion and 10 deaths.
▪ Tropical Storm Imelda, September 2019: “Tropical 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.” Cost: $5 billion and five people died.
▪ Texas Tornadoes and Central Severe Weather, October 2019: “Numerous 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.” Cost: $1.7 billion and two deaths.
