Billion-dollar disasters

Oklahoma and Kansas Tornadoes

May 3 to 6, 1999 · Severe Storm · $3.8 billion in 2024 dollars

One of the severe storm disasters on NOAA’s billion-dollar list: $3.8 billion in losses at 2024 prices ($2.0 billion at the time) and 55 deaths.

What the offices filed during it

The 400 most significant severe storm 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

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The toll

Losses, 2024 dollars
$3.8 billion
Losses at the time
$2.0 billion
Deaths
55

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

StateEventsDeathsInjuriesDamage filed
Oklahoma26240675$1.1 billion
Texas411137$162 million
Kansas1116154$143 million
Tennessee145324$7.4 million
Florida4301$4.9 million
Nebraska5200$2.1 million
Georgia8916$1.1 million
Arkansas6601$938,000
Mississippi5100$501,000
Louisiana2400$375,000
North Carolina4300$347,000
Illinois2904$225,000
Missouri5212$219,000
South Carolina40019$167,000
Indiana3400$158,000
Michigan1200$133,000
Alabama4200$116,000
Ohio2401$105,000
Kentucky2700$98,000
Maryland500$45,000
Virginia3000$22,000
Wisconsin500$8,000
South Dakota1600
North Dakota1300
Utah301
Minnesota201
New Mexico100
Idaho100
Colorado100

Episode by episode

More

Every billion-dollar disasterEvery storm of 1999Tornadoes in 1999

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.