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list of billion-dollar weather disasters to affect the United States
Text description and a table of the list of billion-dollar weather disasters to affect the United States image.
The image is a table titled "Weather and Climate Billion-Dollar Disasters to affect the U.S. from 1980-2014 (CPI-Adjusted)." The table has columns for Event, Begin Date, End Date, Summary, CPI-Adjusted Estimated Cost (Billions of Dollars), and Deaths. Each row provides details about significant weather events.
| Event | Begin Date | End Date | Summary | CPI-Adjusted Estimated Cost (Billions of Dollars) | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hurricane Katrina August 2025 | 2005-08-25 | 2025-08-30 | Category 3 hurricane initially impacts the U.S. as a Category 1 near Miami, FL, then as a strong Category 3 along the eastern LA-western MS coastlines, resulting in severe storm surge damage (maximum surge probably exceeded 30 feet) along the LA-MS-AL coasts, wind damage, and the failure of parts of the levee system in New Orleans. Inland effects included high winds and some flooding in the states of AL, MS, FL, TN, KY, IN, OH, and GA. | $151 | 1,833 |
| Sandy October 2012 | 2012-10-30 | 2012-10-31 | Extensive damage across several northeastern states (MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, MA, RI) due to high wind and coastal storm surge, particularly NY and NJ. Damage from wind, rain and heavy snow also extended more broadly to other states (NC, VA, WV, OH, PA, NH), as Sandy merged with a developing Nor’easter. Sandy’s impact on major population centers caused widespread interruption to critical water / electrical services and also caused 159 deaths (72 direct, 87 indirect). Sandy also caused the New York Stock Exchange to close for two consecutive business days, which last happened in 1888 due to a major winter storm. | $67 | 159 |
| Hurricane Andrew August 1992 | 1992-08-23 | 1992-08-27 | Category 4 hurricane hits Florida and Louisiana, high winds damage or destroy over 125,000 homes | $45 | 61 |
| U.S. Drought/Heatvwave Summer 1988 | 1988-06-01 | 1988-08-31 | 1988 drought across a large portion of the U.S. with very severe losses to agriculture and related industries. Combined direct and indirect deaths (i.e., excess mortality) due to heat stress estimated at 5,000. | $40 | 454 |
| Midwest Flooding Summer 1993 | 1993-06-27 | 1993-08-15 | Severe, widespread flooding in central U.S. due to persistent heavy rains and thunderstorms. | $34 | 48 |
Credit: CREDIT_HERE