Billion-dollar disasters

Severe Storms/Hail

April 4 to 7, 2003 · Severe Storm · $3.5 billion in 2024 dollars

One of the severe storm disasters on NOAA’s billion-dollar list: $3.5 billion in losses at 2024 prices ($2.0 billion at the time) and 3 deaths.

What the offices filed during it

The 355 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
$3.5 billion
Losses at the time
$2.0 billion
Deaths
3

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
Mississippi14118$273 million
Texas180017$80 million
Louisiana8911$1.1 million
Alabama4010$645,000
Ohio7200$352,000
Illinois9101$351,000
Indiana6200$239,000
North Carolina200$100,000
Pennsylvania500$95,000
Tennessee2700$91,000
California100$50,000
Kentucky1900$34,000
Oklahoma7400$26,000
Georgia1600$25,000
Arkansas5600$13,000
Missouri10100$9,000
West Virginia200$2,000
Kansas900
Hawaii300
Iowa300
Michigan300
Florida300
Idaho300
Washington200
South Carolina100
Virginia100

Episode by episode

More

Every billion-dollar disasterEvery storm of 2003Tornadoes in 2003

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.