Louisiana Flooding
One of the flooding disasters on NOAA’s billion-dollar list: $1.6 billion in losses at 2024 prices ($1.3 billion at the time) and 5 deaths.
What the offices filed during it
The 29 most significant flooding 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
- $1.6 billion
- Losses at the time
- $1.3 billion
- Deaths
- 5
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
Episode by episode
- Flood and Hail in Nebraska, May 15, 2021Thunderstorms initiated along the Colorado/Nebraska border during the early evening hours of May 15th. As these storms tracked east, they became severe over Perkins and Keith counties. Storms then tracked into Lincoln county where they weakened.
- Flood and Hail in Texas, May 15, 2021Upper level disturbances rotating around a large upper level low positioned across California and Nevada led to generation of storms in New Mexico and mainly western portions of the Panhandles.
- Flash Flooding in Kansas, May 16, 2021Persistent thunderstorms with heavy rain rates led to heavy rainfall and serious flooding in Osborne County during the early morning hours of May 16th.
- Flash Flooding in Kansas, May 16, 2021Multiple rounds of rain produced flooding in parts of eastern Kansas on 5/16.
- Flash Flooding in Texas, May 16, 2021Strong thunderstorms resulted in Flash Flooding around the Matagorda Bay area. Isolated locations received up to 8-10 inches of rainfall.
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in Texas, May 16, 2021A series of disturbances moving across South Texas produced a line of showers and thunderstorms that moved across the Coastal Bend and towards the Middle Texas Coast throughout the day on the 16th.
- Flash Flood and Flood in Texas, May 16, 2021For the second consecutve day, upper level disturbances rotating around a large upper level low positioned across California and Nevada contributed to scattered thunderstorms development across portions of the Panhandles.
- Flood and Hail in Oklahoma, May 16, 2021Thunderstorms developed during the evening hours of the 16th along a residual outflow boundary near the Red River, producing scattered reports of severe wind and isolated hail and flooding.
- Flash Flood in Missouri, May 16, 2021Weak thunderstorms brought persistent moderate rain to the area, which caused some isolated flash flooding along Brush Creek near Ward Parkway.
- Flash Flood and Hail in Colorado, May 16, 2021During the afternoon and into the evening strong thunderstorms developed and moved across parts of East Central Colorado. Hail up to nickel size was reported at Stratton and Burlington. Heavy rainfall in the Burlington area caused a culvert to be washed out.
- Flash Flood and Flood in Kansas, May 16, 2021Another shortwave moved across northern portions of the CWA with flooding more of an issue for areas along the Hwy 96 corridor. Storms had little motion over already saturated ground produced some flooding and a few storms produced hail and damaging wind.
- Flooding in Indiana, May 17, 2021Showers and thunderstorms developed during the morning hours along a warm front situated across the Ohio Valley.
- Flash Flooding in Texas, May 17, 2021A weak cold front moved into the area and stalled. Areas of heavy rain occurred in Southeast Texas resulting in flooding.
- Flash Flooding and Heavy Snow in Colorado, May 17 to 18, 2021A large upper level system moved across the region during this time, providing widespread precipitation to much of southern Colorado. While a few severe reports consisting of large hail were observed, the main hazards were heavy rainfall with flash flooding.
- Flash Flood in Texas, May 17, 2021A closed upper low pressure system exited the Desert Southwest into the Southern Rockies/New Mexico during the morning of May 17th, with a shortwave trough rotating northeast ahead of the low across Central and Southeast Texas.
- Flash Flooding in Texas, May 17, 2021Thunderstorms producing heavy rain resulted in flash flooding across portions of SE TX.
- Flash Flood and Hail in Texas, May 17, 2021An upper level low pressure system was approaching the region from the west. There was a dryline across the Permian Basin and Lower Trans Pecos which aided in atmospheric lift. There were lots of boundaries from previous thunderstorms across the area.
- Flash Flood in Nebraska, May 17, 2021During the afternoon and into the evening, a line of strong thunderstorms developed in northwest Kansas and moved slowly north across parts of extreme southwest Nebraska where it dissipated.
- Flash Flooding in Missouri, May 17 to 18, 2021Abundant gulf moisture streamed northward across the central US in between high pressure over the mid Atlantic and low pressure over the southwest US. Heavy rainfall occurred over central and southwest Missouri from the evening of the 17th to the morning of the 18th.
- Flooding in Arkansas, May 18 to 30, 2021Heavy rain brought flooding to the Ouachita and Fourche LaFave Rivers in the middle of May.
- Flood and Hail in Texas, May 18, 2021On May 18th, a slow moving upper level low pressure system which had been responsible for severe storms May 15 through May 17th, moved east into northern New Mexico.
- Flash Flooding and Damaging Winds in Texas, May 18 to 19, 2021A closed upper low pressure system continued to spin across New Mexico during the afternoon and evening of May 18th, ejecting a shortwave trough northeast across Northeast Texas into Southeast Oklahoma.
- Flash Flooding and Flood in Texas, May 18 to 19, 2021Showers and thunderstorms moved across the area in the evening through late night hours and produced wind damage, lightning damage and some flooding.
- Flash Flooding and Damaging Wind in Texas, May 18 to 19, 2021An upper trough rotating across the Rio Grande resulted in widespread shower and thunderstorm development across South Texas during the evening hours of May 18th and continued into May 19th.
- Heavy Rain in Kansas, May 19 to 20, 2021Heavy rain moved across portions of southeast Kansas.
- Flash Flood and Hail in Texas, May 19, 2021An upper level low was over the Texas panhandle. There was a weak frontal boundary across the area along with outflows from earlier thunderstorms. High moisture was across the Permian Basin and Lower Trans Pecos east of the dryline.
- Flash Flooding and Flood in Texas, May 19, 2021A thunderstorm complex moved from the Rio Grande Plains into the Rio Grande Valley during the morning and early afternoon hours on May 19th.
- Coastal Flood in Louisiana, May 19 to 22, 2021Strong east-southeasterly pressure gradient flow between a strong high pressure over the mid-Atlantic and a weak surface low in the northwestern Gulf led to several days of coastal flooding across southeastern Louisiana.
- Coastal Flood in Mississippi, May 19 to 22, 2021Strong east-southeasterly pressure gradient flow between a strong high pressure over the mid-Atlantic and a weak surface low in the northwestern Gulf led to several days of coastal flooding across southern Mississippi.
More
Every billion-dollar disasterEvery storm of 2021Tornadoes in 2021
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.