List of natural disasters in the United States

This list of United States natural disasters is a list of notable natural disasters which occurred in the United States from 1816 to 2016.

Due to inflation, the monetary damage estimates are not comparable. Unless otherwise noted, the year given is the year in which the currency's valuation was calculated.

Year	Type	Fatalities	Damage (US$)	Article	Location	Comment
2016	Hurricane	49		Hurricane Matthew	Florida, Georgia, The Carolinas
2016	Flood	13		2016 Louisiana floods	Louisiana
2016	Flood	23		2016 West Virginia flood	West Virginia
2016	Blizzard	55		January 2016 United States blizzard	Southeast through Mid Atlantic to Northeast	Snowfall totals in excess of two feet (61cm)
2015	Flood	25	Billions	October 2015 North American Storm Complex	Carolinas
2015	Flood	20		2015 Utah floods	Utah
2015	Wild fire	3	$6-$8 billion	Okanogan Complex fire	Okanogan County, Washington	Damage figure includes costs involved in the fighting of the fire.
2015	Flood	46		2015 Texas–Oklahoma floods	Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma
2014	Snow storm	24		November 2014 North American winter storm	Buffalo, New York, Great Lakes region
2014	Tornado	35	$1 billion	April 2014 tornado outbreak	Nebraska, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina
2014	Mudflow	43		2014 Oso mudslide	Oso, Washington
2013-2014	Cold wave	21		2013–14 North American cold wave	Eastern US
2014	Wildfire	19		Yarnell Hill Fire	Yarnell, Arizona
2013	Tornado	24	$2 billion	2013 Moore tornado	Moore, Oklahoma
2013	Blizzard	18		February 2013 nor'easter	Eastern US
2012	Hurricane	147	$75 billion	Hurricane Sandy	Eastern US
2011	Tornado	160	$69,000 – $3,000,000,000 (2011)	2011 Joplin tornado	Joplin, Missouri	part of the May 21–26, 2011 tornado outbreak sequence
2011	Tornado	346	~$11,000,000,000 (2011)	2011 Super Outbreak	Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas and Virginia	336 tornadoes
2011	Flood	20	$2 to 4 billion[1][2]	2011 Mississippi River floods	Mississippi River Valley
2010	Flood	20		June 2010 Arkansas floods	Albert Pike Recreational Area (near Langley, Arkansas)
2009	Tsunami	31		2009 Samoa earthquake and tsunami	American Samoa and nearby islands	189 total deaths, with 31 in American Samoa.
2008	Tornado	59		2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak	Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama, and Illinois
2007	Fire	14		California wildfires of October 2007	California	Large fires burnt out of control across southern California, fueled by unusually strong Santa Ana Winds; worst around San Diego; caused evacuation of over one million people. Most fires accidental; some suspected arson.
2006	Snow storm	19	$530,000,000 (2006)	Lake Storm "Aphid"	Buffalo, New York
2005	Cyclone	1,836	$84,000,000,000 (2006)	Hurricane Katrina	Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama
2005	Cyclone	120	$10,000,000,000 (2005)	Hurricane Rita	Louisiana, Texas
2005	Tornado	25	$92,000,000	Evansville Tornado of November 2005	Missouri, [[India ]], Kentucky, Ohio	7 tornadoes
2004	Cyclone	124	$19,000,000,000 (2005)	Hurricane Ivan	Texas, Florida, East Coast
2004	Cyclone	49	$9,000,000,000	Hurricane Frances	Florida
2004	Cyclone	10	$15,000,000,000	Hurricane Charley	Florida
2001	Cyclone	41	$5,500,000,000	Tropical Storm Allison	Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania
1999	Heat wave	271			Midwest and Northeast
1999	Tornado	48	$1,500,000,000 (2005)	1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak	Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Tennessee	66 tornadoes
1998–1999	Landslide	0	$70,000,000	Aldercrest-Banyon landslide	Kelso, Washington
1998	Blizzard	30		North American ice storm of 1998	Canada and Northeast
1997	Flood	0	$2,000,000,000	1997 Red River Flood	North Dakota, Minnesota, Southern Manitoba
1996	Flood	8	$500,000,000	Willamette Valley Flood of 1996	Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California
1995	Heat wave	739		Chicago Heat Wave of 1995	Chicago, Illinois
1995	Flood	6	$1,360,000,000	May 8, 1995 Louisiana Flood	New Orleans, Louisiana area
1994	Earthquake	57	$23,000,000,000	Northridge earthquake	Greater Los Angeles area
1993	Blizzard	79–300	$6,600,000,00	Storm of the Century	East Coast of North and Central America
1993	Flood	50	$15,000,000,000	Great Flood of 1993	Midwest
1992	Cyclone	26	$25,000,000,000	Hurricane Andrew	Florida and Louisiana
1991	Fire	25	$1,500,000,000	Oakland Hills Fire	San Francisco Bay Area, California
1990	Tornado	29	$160,000,000	1990 Plainfield tornado	Plainfield, Illinois Crest Hill, Illinois
1989	Earthquake	69	$6,000,000,000	Loma Prieta earthquake	San Francisco Bay Area, California
1989	Cyclone	49	$7,000,000,000 (1989)	Hurricane Hugo	Caribbean and Eastern North America.	Damage figure for U.S. only. At least 111 total deaths, with 37 in the continental U.S. and 12 in the U.S. possession of Puerto Rico.
1988	Heat wave/Drought	5,000 - 10,000	$120,000,000,000	1988-89 North American drought	Widespread; 45% of the nation affected	Costliest natural disaster in the United States prior to Hurricane Katrina.
1988	Wildfire	2	$240,000,000	Yellowstone fires of 1988	Yellowstone National Park, Upper-Left Wyoming	793,880 acres (36% of the park) was burned in the fires started by lightning.
1980	Heat wave	1,700	$20,000,000,000	1980 United States heat wave	Central and southern states	Official death toll, may have been higher; damage figure not adjusted for inflation.
1980	Volcano	57	$1,100,000,000	1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens	Washington State	Damage figure not adjusted for inflation; figure in 2015 dollars is $2,890,000,000.
1977	Blizzard	23	$56,250,000 (1977)	Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977	New York and Ontario (esp. Buffalo, New York)
1976	Heat Wave	?	?	Heat Wave of Easter Weekend 1976	Eastern U.S. including record high temps in NYC, Washington D.C., Albany, NY, Burlington, VT.	More info here: http://strib.mn/1cYHrS1 or search heat wave of Easter Weekend 1976
1976	Flood	145		Big Thompson Canyon Flood of 1976	Colorado
1974	Tornado	315		1974 Super Outbreak	Ontario, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and New York	148 tornadoes
1972	Flood	238	$160,000,000 (1972) $664,000,000 (2002)	1972 Rapid City Flood	Rapid City, South Dakota	Average rainfall over area of 60 mi² measured at 10-15 inches (380 mm), over 6 hours in middle of night June 9–10, 1972.
1971	Earthquake	65	$500,000,000	Sylmar earthquake	Greater Los Angeles, California area
1970	Tornado	26	$1,411,900,000 (2008)	Lubbock Tornado	Lubbock, Texas	F5 tornado killed 26 and wounded approximately 500
1969	Cyclone	256		Hurricane Camille	Mississippi, Alabama and Virginia
1965	Tornado	271		Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak	Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana	78 tornadoes
1964	Tsunami and Earthquake	115	$1,800,000,000 (2006)	Good Friday earthquake	Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, California, British Columbia
1960	Tsunami	61	$500,000 (2005)	Great Chilean earthquake	Hawaii, Alaska	2,290 to 6,600 killed and $3,500,000,000 (2005) in damage worldwide. 61 killed in Hilo, Hawaii. $500,000 in U.S. property damage
1957	Tornado	10	$25,883,000	1957 Fargo tornado	Fargo, ND
1953	Tornado	114			Waco, TX
1951	Flood	28	$7,000,000,000 (2005)	Great Flood of 1951	Kansas and Missouri
1950	Blizzard	353	$66,700,000 (1950)	Great Appalachian Storm of November 1950	Eastern US States
1946	Tsunami and Earthquake	165		Aleutian Island earthquake	Alaska and Hawaii
1940	Blizzard	154	$2,200,000	Armistice Day Blizzard	North and Central Midwest	Damage total not adjusted for inflation.
1938	Cyclone	600		Great New England Hurricane
1938	Flood	115		Los Angeles Flood of 1938	Los Angeles
1937	Flood	385	$5,000,000,000	Ohio River flood of 1937	Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois
1936	Flood	69	$3,000,000,000 (2006)	Pittsburgh Flood 1936	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area
1935	Cyclone	423		Labor Day Hurricane of 1935	Florida
1931–1939	Drought	Unknown	Unknown	Dust Bowl	Great Plains	Compounded by unsustainable agricultural techniques
1928	Cyclone	3,000	$800,000,000 (2005)	1928 Okeechobee Hurricane	Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Florida	4,078+ believed dead total. About 2,500 died in Florida and 500 in the U.S. possession of Puerto Rico.
1927	Flood	246	$400,000,000	Great Mississippi Flood of 1927	Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee
1926	Tornado	16		La Plata Tornado of 1926	La Plata, Maryland	13 killed in La Plata Elementary School
1925	Tornado	695–727	$1,650,000,000 (2005)	Tri-State Tornado	Missouri, Illinois and Indiana (Kentucky, Tennessee)	Lower number for single 3-state tornado; higher for 5-state outbreak
1919	Cyclone	600		1919 Florida Keys Hurricane	Florida, Texas
1918	Fire	453	$73 Million (US$1.145 Billion in 2015)	1918 Cloquet Fire	Minnesota	Largest disaster in Minnesota history.
1913	Flood	428		1913 (Ohio) Statewide Flood	Southwest, Central, and Eastern Ohio
1913	Flood	361		Great Dayton Flood	Dayton, Ohio	Flood was created by a series of three winter storms that hit the region in March, 1913
1913	Blizzard	250		Great Lakes Storm of 1913		Fatalities estimated
1913	Storm	250	$5,000,000 (1913)	Great Lakes Storm of 1913	Great Lakes area	Financial impact for lost vessels and cargo only
1910	Avalanche	96		Wellington avalanche	Wellington, Washington
1906	Earthquake and Fire (urban conflagration)	3,000–6,000		1906 San Francisco earthquake	California	Conflagration followed quake; fatalities estimated
1900	Cyclone	6,000–12,000		Galveston Hurricane of 1900	Texas	Fatalities estimated – remains deadliest natural disaster in North American history.
1896	Tornado	255–400	$2,900,000,000 (1997)	St. Louis-East St. Louis tornado	Missouri
1894	Fire	418	$73 Million	Great Hinckley Fire	Minnesota	Actual death toll likely higher than official death toll of 418.
1893	Cyclone	2,000		1893 Cheniere Caminada Hurricane	Louisiana	Fatalities estimated
1893	Cyclone	1,000–2,000		1893 Sea Islands Hurricane	Georgia, South Carolina	Fatalities estimated
1889	Flood	2,209	$17 Million ($425 Million in 2012 dollars)	Johnstown Flood	Johnstown, Pennsylvania	A dam failure caused 20 million tons of water to be unleashed, devastating Johnstown, PA and the surrounding area.
1888	Blizzard	400		Great Blizzard of 1888	Northeast	Fatalities estimated
1888	Cold wave	Unknown		1888 Northwest Cold Wave	Northwest
1871	Fire	1,500-2,500		Peshtigo Fire	Wisconsin	Deadliest firestorm in United States history.
1816	Famine (caused by volcano)	Unknown		Year Without a Summer		Volcanic dust from a massive eruption by Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies (present Indonesia) in 1815 led to an abnormally cold summer in 1816 in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada. Cold weather inhibited crops, and frosts and snowstorms killed what did grow, leading to a localized famine.

See also

• List of United States disasters by death toll
• Category:Lists of tropical cyclones in the United States

References

1. Masters, Jeffrey. "Mississippi River flood of 2011 already a $2 billion disaster". Weather Underground. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
2. Strauss, Gary; Marisol Bello (May 11, 2011). "Mississippi flood damages could reach billions". Tucson Citizen. Retrieved May 12, 2011.