The Most Expensive Natural Disasters in U.S. History and Their Lasting Impact

To identify the costliest weather disasters in recent U.S. history, Moms Who Think reviewed data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information, including its Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters report. Events are ranked based on estimated damage costs, adjusted for inflation, to reflect their true economic impact.

In recent years, the United States has experienced a significant number of billion-dollar weather events, including hurricanes, floods, wildfires, droughts, and severe storms. Research shows that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and, in some cases, more intense due to rising global temperatures. Because the U.S. has extensive infrastructure and high property values, the financial impact of these disasters is often especially severe, with damages reaching into the billions for even a single event.

• Duration: February 10 – 12, 2024
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.075 billion
• Deaths: 0
• Type: Severe Storm

Hail the size of golf balls across central and eastern Texas damaged vehicles, homes, and businesses. There was also damage in portions of Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina from hail and high winds.

• Duration: April 12 – 13, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.133 billion
• Deaths: 0
• Type: Flooding

Over 25 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours in Fort Lauderdale and surrounding areas, causing flash flooding. The Fort Lauderdale Airport also closed on April 13 due to the flooding.

• Duration: April 26 – 28, 2024
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.173 billion
• Deaths: 3
• Type: Severe Storm

An outbreak of more than 140 tornadoes hit Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, causing widespread damage. Extensive damage was caused to a large commercial distribution center in Oklahoma, Eppley Airfield near Omaha, as well as several towns near Omaha and Topeka, Kansas.

• Duration: May 16 – 17, 2024
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.227 billion
• Deaths: 8
• Type: Severe Storm

Rare in the south, this derecho — a specific type of long-lived wind storm — caused damage from Texas to Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida, with winds in central and eastern Texas at times exceeding 100 mph. Downtown Houston skyscrapers were also damaged.

• Duration: February 27 – 28, 2024
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.297 billion
• Deaths: 0
• Type: Severe Storm

Severe storms produced two dozen tornadoes, hail, and high wind across northern Illinois, central Ohio, and southern Michigan as well as across northern Kentucky and northern Georgia.

• Duration: December 16 – 18, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.302 billion
• Deaths: 5
• Type: Flooding

This East Coast storm hit areas from Florida to Maine, with heavy rainfall and high winds causing flooding and coastal erosion.

• Duration: January 12 – 14, 2024
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.339 billion
• Deaths: 20
• Type: Winter Storm

An arctic front moved across Western Washington and Oregon, dropping temperatures below freezing. Freezing rain impacted several areas, and icing and strong winds impacted numerous locations, including Springfield and the Portland metro area, causing damage.

• Duration: April 25 – 27, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.360 billion
• Deaths: 0
• Type: Severe Storm

Severe weather across Texas, Georgia, and Florida with hail and wind caused considerable damage.

• Duration: April 15, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.388 billion
• Deaths: 0
• Type: Severe Storm

Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Texas, Louisiana, and the Florida Panhandle were impacted by weather-producing hail, tornadoes, and high winds, causing damage.

• Duration: July 28 – 29, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.527 billion
• Deaths: 2
• Type: Severe Storm

The states most impacted by these severe storms were Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, as high wind, severe hail, and tornadoes caused damage.

• Duration: May 18 – 19, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.674 billion
• Deaths: 0
• Type: Severe Storm

These hail storms impacted counties across north central Texas. Golf to tennis ball-sized hail caused the most damage in Collin County.

• Duration: August 5 – 8, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.680 billion
• Deaths: 4
• Type: Severe Storm

High wind, severe hail, and tornadoes hit many Northeastern and Eastern states. States from Georgia to New York reported damage to homes, vehicles, businesses, agriculture, and infrastructure.

• Duration: September 23 – 24, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.695 billion
• Deaths: 0
• Type: Severe Storm

Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri were impacted by these hail storms. However, the most damage occurred in central Texas, including Austin, Georgetown, Round Rock, and Arlington on Sept. 24. Baseball-sized hail caused damage to towns north of Austin.

• Duration: January 14 – 18, 2024
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.775 billion
• Deaths: 41
• Type: Winter Storm

A cold wave affected Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Georgia for several days, producing sleet and freezing rain in the deep south. When accounting for the high winds, wind chills fell well below zero for many states, contributing to dozens of fatalities, many in Tennessee.

• Duration: February 2 – 5, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.821 billion
• Deaths: 1
• Type: Winter Storm

Numerous Northeastern states were hit by snow, high winds, and bitter cold. While Massachusetts was impacted by widespread power outages, in Mount Washington, New Hampshire, the wind chill temperature reached -108 degrees Fahrenheit — one of the coldest ever recorded in the U.S.

• Duration: April 1 – 3, 2024
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.823 billion
• Deaths: 3
• Type: Severe Storm

This central tornado outbreak produced more than 85 tornadoes in three days from Oklahoma to West Virginia, including 19 EF-0, 52 EF-1, and 14 EF-2 tornadoes, causing damage.

• Duration: August 11, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.828 billion
• Deaths: 0
• Type: Severe Storm

Numerous hail storms that included golf ball to baseball-sized hail caused extensive damage across south-central Minnesota.

• Duration: July 19 – 21, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.887 billion
• Deaths: 1
• Type: Severe Storm

Severe storms caused damage across Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Tennessee, and Georgia as ping-pong to golf ball-sized hail and high winds caused considerable damage.

• Duration: June 28 – July 2, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $1.977 billion
• Deaths: 3
• Type: Severe Storm

Severe storms caused the most damage across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, in addition to damage in many surrounding states. The damage was largely from high wind and hail but also scattered tornadoes.

• Duration: April 8 – 11, 2024
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $2.009 billion
• Deaths: 0
• Type: Severe Storm

Severe weather produced tornadoes, hail, and high winds from Texas to Virginia. Following severe hail and high wind across central and eastern Texas, more than 20 tornadoes hit Gulf Coast counties of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida as well as tornado impacts in North Carolina and Virginia.

• Duration: May 6 – 8, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $2.201 billion
• Deaths: 1
• Type: Severe Storm

Severe weather caused damage across Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana, with additional damage in Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Texas.

• Duration: July 9 – 15, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $2.230 billion
• Deaths: 10
• Type: Flooding

Severe storms caused flooding to portions of the Northeast, with flooding in Vermont similar to the flood impacts from Hurricane Irene in 2011. Damage in West Point, New York, alone was estimated at $103 million, with roads, bridges, and agriculture across the Northeast also damaged. Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois also suffered damage.

• Duration: January 8 – 10, 2024
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $2.780 billion
• Deaths: 3
• Type: Severe Storm

A southern tornado outbreak and east coast storm caused damage in more than a dozen states, with at least 39 preliminary tornadoes clustered around the Florida Panhandle. The strongest tornado, an EF-3, caused significant damage around Panama City Beach, Florida.

• Duration: March 24 – 26, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $2.928 billion
• Deaths: 23
• Type: Severe Storm

Severe storms, including more than 40 tornadoes, caused damage across Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. High winds also caused damage in parts of Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

• Duration: April 4 – 6, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $2.928 billion
• Deaths: 5
• Type: Severe Storm

Severe storms produced large hail, high winds, and more than 35 tornadoes across many states with the most damage in Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Michigan.

• Duration: April 19 – 20, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $3.078 billion
• Deaths: 1
• Type: Severe Storm

Severe hail, scattered tornadoes, and high winds caused damage across Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Central Oklahoma was also impacted by a cluster of tornadoes.

• Duration: May 10 – 12, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $3.529 billion
• Deaths: 1
• Type: Severe Storm

Several central states were impacted by dozens of tornadoes and severe hail storms. The most costly damage from hail occurred in Colorado, while tornadoes caused damage in western Kansas, central Oklahoma, and eastern Nebraska. Texas and North Dakota were also impacted by a combination of both hail and tornadoes.

• Duration: August 29 – 31, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $3.560 billion
• Deaths: 5
• Type: Tropical Cyclone

Hurricane Idalia made landfall near Keaton Beach, Florida as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 125 mph. Idalia caused a storm surge about 8 feet above ground and 5 to 10 inches of rainfall, impacting other coastal communities and southeastern portions of Georgia and the Carolinas. The relatively low population density of the Big Bend region helped to reduce damage costs.

• Duration: June 15 – 18, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $3.881 billion
• Deaths: 5
• Type: Severe Storm

Severe storms produced damaging weather across Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, and Ohio. There were reports of over 70 preliminary tornadoes, including an EF-3 tornado in Louin, Mississippi. Still, the damage was most focused in Oklahoma.

• Duration: June 11 – 14, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $4.153 billion
• Deaths: 0
• Type: Severe Storm

Numerous southern states were impacted by hail, tornadoes, and high winds that caused damage to many homes, vehicles, and businesses across several days.

• Duration: May 24 – 25, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $4.378 billion
• Deaths: 2
• Type: Tropical Cyclone

A Category 4 Typhoon struck Guam, battering the island for 15 hours with wind speeds of up to 145 mph that caused severe damage to buildings, vehicles, and infrastructure, including Guam's international airport. Several U.S. military bases, including Andersen Air Force Base, sustained considerable damage.

• Duration: December 26, 2022 – March 19, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $4.725 billion
• Deaths: 22
• Type: Flooding

Numerous atmospheric rivers — large, narrow sections of the atmosphere that carry moisture from the tropics to the poles in continuous succession — caused severe flooding, record snowfall, and significant rainfall. Flooding impacted many homes, businesses, levees, agriculture, and infrastructure in California.

• Duration: May 6 – 9, 2024
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $4.727 billion
• Deaths: 3
• Type: Severe Storm

An outbreak producing more than 165 tornadoes developed across many central, southern, and southeastern states. Barnsdall and Bartlesville, Oklahoma were impacted by an EF-4 tornado that caused extensive damage.

• Duration: June 21 – 26, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $5.401 billion
• Deaths: 8
• Type: Severe Storm

Severe hail storms across Colorado caused damage and injured approximately 100 people at a large outdoor concert. This severe weather also produced more than 60 tornadoes across portions of Wyoming, Colorado, Minnesota, Indiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas.

• Duration: August 8, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $5.665 billion
• Deaths: 100
• Type: Wildfire

Wildfires destroyed the historic town of Lahaina on Maui Island in Hawaii. Winds were enhanced by a high-pressure system, which helped to exacerbate the wildfire. This was the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in over a century.

• Duration: March 31 – April 1, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $5.853 billion
• Deaths: 33
• Type: Severe Storm

A tornado outbreak producing at least 145 tornadoes across numerous central states caused widespread damage mostly in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.

• Duration: March 12 – 14, 2024
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $5.949 billion
• Deaths: 3
• Type: Severe Storm

There was damage in many Central and Southern states from hail, tornadoes, and high winds. Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri were affected by up to baseball-sized hail, while Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio were also impacted by tornadoes, including a deadly EF-3 striking northwest Ohio.

• Duration: March 2 – 3, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $6.111 billion
• Deaths: 13
• Type: Severe Storm

Severe storms impacted Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio, with high winds and tornadoes damaging homes, vehicles, businesses, government buildings, and infrastructure.

• Duration: April 1 – September 30, 2023
• Estimated inflation-adjusted cost: $14.787 billion
• Deaths: 247
• Type: Drought

Drought conditions impacted numerous Southern and Midwestern states and surrounding states, especially the agriculture sector. There was damage to field crops and feeding costs rose so high that ranchers had to sell off livestock early. Low water levels of the Mississippi River impacted river commerce and water quality in southern Louisiana.