Billion-dollar disasters

Severe Storms

May 31 to June 10, 1982 · Severe Storm · $1.6 billion in 2024 dollars

One of the severe storm disasters on NOAA’s billion-dollar list: $1.6 billion in losses at 2024 prices ($480 million at the time) and 30 deaths.

What the offices filed during it

The 108 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
$1.6 billion
Losses at the time
$480 million
Deaths
30

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
Kentucky5704$5.0 million
South Carolina28016$5.0 million
Texas8906$3.8 million
Iowa1300$2.5 million
Florida1000$800,000
Oklahoma7000$601,000
Wyoming507$300,000
Michigan200$275,000
South Dakota2401$250,000
Kansas9700$250,000
Illinois5601$250,000
Missouri12000$250,000
Georgia1800$250,000
Alabama1200$250,000
Nebraska2500$53,000
North Carolina2201$50,000
North Dakota1100$50,000
Indiana5200$25,000
Tennessee400$25,000
Maryland100$3,000
Colorado3400$240
Virginia700$30
New Mexico300$30
Arkansas2900
Louisiana1800
Ohio1600
Mississippi700
Montana300
New York100

Episode by episode

More

Every billion-dollar disasterEvery storm of 1982Tornadoes in 1982

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.