Hurricane Maria
One of the tropical cyclone disasters on NOAA’s billion-dollar list: $115 billion in losses at 2024 prices ($90 billion at the time) and 2,981 deaths.
What the offices filed during it
The 18 most significant tropical cyclone episodes filed in these dates, colored by kind.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Losses, 2024 dollars
- $115 billion
- Losses at the time
- $90 billion
- Deaths
- 2,981
The losses and deaths are NCEI’s, counting everything the disaster did. The episodes below are only what the Weather Service filed in its Storm Events record, which counts damage differently and often not at all, so the two never add up and are shown apart.
By state, as filed
| State | Events | Deaths | Injuries | Damage filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puerto Rico | 52 | 20 | 0 | $18 billion |
| Alaska | 2 | 0 | 0 | $6.0 million |
| Minnesota | 47 | 0 | 0 | $4.5 million |
| Massachusetts | 14 | 0 | 0 | $337,000 |
| Oregon | 1 | 0 | 0 | $240,000 |
| North Dakota | 10 | 0 | 0 | $33,000 |
| Texas | 2 | 0 | 0 | $5,000 |
| Rhode Island | 2 | 0 | 0 | $2,000 |
| Wisconsin | 1 | 0 | 0 | $1,000 |
| South Dakota | 22 | 0 | 0 | |
| New Jersey | 7 | 0 | 0 | |
| Iowa | 7 | 0 | 0 | |
| Delaware | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Maryland | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nevada | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Episode by episode
- Flash Flood in Texas, September 18, 2017Slow moving thunderstorms produced localized flash flooding in the Houston area.
- Tornadoes and Flood in South Dakota, September 19 to 20, 2017A strong upper level low pressure trough along with a surface cold front interacting with unstable air brought severe thunderstorms to the eastern parts of the region. Several tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds, along with some isolated flooding occurred.
- Tornado in Oregon, September 19, 2017Warm surface temperatures with a strong upper-level front bringing cold air in aloft generated enough instability for a few strong thunderstorms across the region September 19th. One of these storms produced a brief tornado.
- Tornado and Hail in North Dakota, September 19, 2017Late in the afternoon of September 19th, a frontal boundary pushed into the Devils Lake to Jamestown (ND) corridor.
- Coastal Flood in New Jersey, September 19 to 20, 2017Moderate coastal flooding affected the New Jersey counties of Ocean, southeastern Burlington, Atlantic and Cape May with the evening high tide on Tuesday, September 19. Widespread roadway flooding was reported in the communities along tidal waters and many roads were closed.
- Coastal Flood in Delaware, September 19 to 20, 2017Moderate coastal flooding affected Sussex County with the evening high tide on Tuesday, September 19. Widespread roadway flooding was reported in the communities along tidal waters and many roads were closed.
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Minnesota, September 19, 2017Late in the afternoon of September 19th, a frontal boundary pushed into the Devils Lake to Jamestown (ND) corridor.
- Hurricane and Flash Flooding in Puerto Rico, September 20 to 22, 2017Hurricane Maria was a catastrophic category 4 hurricane which devastated the island of Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. Maximum sustained winds of 175 mph as it was approaching the county warning area.
- Tornadoes and Hail in Minnesota, September 19 to 20, 2017A strong and potent upper level disturbance, combined with a cold front sweeping across the eastern Dakotas, fired a line of severe thunderstorms that moved eastward into western Minnesota toward midnight.
- Tropical Storm in Massachusetts, September 20 to 22, 2017Named storm Jose formed over the Tropical Atlantic, moving west and growing to become a Major Hurricane. Jose passed north of the Leeward Islands, then turned on a northward path north of the Dominican Republic.
- Tropical Storm and Strong Wind in Rhode Island, September 20 to 22, 2017Jose formed over the Tropical Atlantic, moving west and growing to become a Major Hurricane. Jose passed north of the Leeward Islands, then turned on a northward path north of the Dominican Republic.
- Coastal Flood in Maryland, September 20 to 21, 2017An onshore flow led to moderate tidal flooding at Straits Point in St Marys County.
- Flash Flood and Hail in Iowa, September 20 to 21, 2017A cold front passed across the region replacing record warm and moist air. Thunderstorms produced by the cold front produced isolated severe storms of damaging winds, hail and locally heavy rainfall and flash flooding.
- Heavy Rain in Wisconsin, September 20 to 21, 2017A slow moving cold front resulted in repeated rounds of showers and thunderstorms. This caused urban flooding in the city of Fond du Lac.
- Heavy Rain in Iowa, September 20 to 21, 2017During the day of the 20th, a cold front made its way southward through Iowa before stalling out during the evening of the 20th/early morning hours of the 21st.
- Flash Flood in Texas, September 21, 2017A lone slow-moving thunderstorm caused very isolated flooding within Pasadena's city limits.
- Flooding in Alaska, September 21 to 27, 2017Snow Lake, a glacier-dammed lake in the Kenai Mountains, released on September 16th. The draining of the lake caused the Snow River, Kenai Lake, and the Kenai River to rise significantly.
- Tornado in Nevada, September 21, 2017Showers and isolated thunderstorms developed along a surface trough beneath an upper-level area of low pressure on September 21st.
More
Every billion-dollar disasterEvery storm of 2017The 2017 hurricane seasonTornadoes in 2017
Sources
NOAA NCEI, U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (2025), https://doi.org/10.25921/stkw-7w73, and the Storm Events Database for the episodes.