Billion-dollar disasters

Southern Tornadoes and Southeast Severe Weather

May 2 to 4, 2021 · Severe Storm · $1.5 billion in 2024 dollars

One of the severe storm disasters on NOAA’s billion-dollar list: $1.5 billion in losses at 2024 prices ($1.3 billion at the time) and 4 deaths.

What the offices filed during it

The 110 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
$1.5 billion
Losses at the time
$1.3 billion
Deaths
4

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
Arkansas6501$17 million
Mississippi12800$7.7 million
Texas23308$4.3 million
Tennessee8310$4.3 million
Georgia9511$1.6 million
Kentucky4400$1.4 million
Virginia13512$1.3 million
South Carolina8102$535,000
Louisiana4700$373,000
Maryland1600$334,000
Missouri1800$289,000
Oklahoma4201$212,000
North Carolina2202$176,000
West Virginia1001$158,000
Pennsylvania600$98,000
Nebraska3000$90,000
Kansas4700$50,000
Illinois2100$50,000
New Mexico300$50,000
Colorado2400$20,000
Alabama11201$19,000
District of Columbia300$3,000
Iowa100$2,000
Wisconsin800
Florida500
Wyoming300
Idaho235
Utah100
Minnesota100
Delaware100

Episode by episode

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.