Upper Midwest Flooding
One of the flooding disasters on NOAA’s billion-dollar list: $1.1 billion in losses at 2024 prices ($1.1 billion at the time) and 4 deaths.
What the offices filed during it
The 66 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
- $1.1 billion
- Losses at the time
- $1.1 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
| State | Events | Deaths | Injuries | Damage filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | 100 | 1 | 0 | $102 million |
| Iowa | 159 | 2 | 0 | $75 million |
| Minnesota | 147 | 0 | 0 | $31 million |
| Nebraska | 17 | 0 | 0 | $27 million |
| New Mexico | 41 | 0 | 51 | $2.6 million |
| Vermont | 2 | 0 | 0 | $1.3 million |
| Colorado | 11 | 0 | 0 | $515,000 |
| Ohio | 50 | 0 | 3 | $363,000 |
| Wisconsin | 19 | 0 | 1 | $271,000 |
| Michigan | 2 | 0 | 0 | $100,000 |
| Arizona | 11 | 2 | 0 | $71,000 |
| New York | 47 | 0 | 0 | $52,000 |
| Tennessee | 1 | 0 | 0 | $25,000 |
| Oklahoma | 16 | 0 | 0 | $20,000 |
| Pennsylvania | 4 | 0 | 0 | $17,000 |
| Utah | 16 | 0 | 0 | $7,000 |
| Virginia | 4 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 |
| Puerto Rico | 8 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 |
| Connecticut | 8 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 |
| Massachusetts | 5 | 0 | 0 | $2,000 |
| Kansas | 27 | 0 | 0 | |
| Illinois | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Florida | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Texas | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wyoming | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Maine | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Rhode Island | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Episode by episode
- Heavy Rain in Florida, June 15, 2024Daily sea breeze convection under prevailing east wind focused the evening sea breeze collision near the I-75 corridor where locally heavy rainfall and isolated strong storms occurred.
- Flash Flood and Hail in Kansas, June 15, 2024Hail on 06/15.
- Flash Flood and Heavy Rain in Minnesota, June 15 to 16, 2024A complex of thunderstorms moved across the region on Sunday, June 16. Later that evening and overnight another complex of thunderstorms developed over south central Minnesota.
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Iowa, June 15 to 16, 2024In the wake of a morning mesoscale convective system (MCS) across Nebraska, storms refired during the evening hours across northwest Iowa within fairly weak deep-layer shear and up to 2000 J/kg MUCAPE.
- Flooding in Iowa, June 15 to 30, 2024A wet period allowed for flooding to return to portions of the Little Sioux River.
- Debris Flow and Flooding in Puerto Rico, June 16 to 20, 2024Series of troughs enhanced afternoon convection during the week. Flooding, thunderstorm wind and hail reports were received at some point during the week. Activity caused a landslide in Bayamon.
- Flash Flood in Florida, June 16, 2024Slow moving thunderstorms in the Panama City Beach area produced flash flooding.
- Flash Flooding in Nebraska, June 17, 2024A persistent tail of thunderstorms continued along the southern edge of a large convective system, resulting in prolonged rainfall over a couple hours across northeast Nebraska.
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Ohio, June 17 to 20, 2024Northern Ohio resided within the warm and humid sector along the northwestern flank of the Bermuda-Azores subtropical high during the late morning of the 17th through late evening of the 20th.
- Flash Flood in Tennessee, June 17, 2024A very moist, tropical-like, airmass covered the Mid-South on June 17, 2024. A weak mid-level shortwave rotating around the western periphery of the upper-level ridge situated west of the Mid-South.
- Flooding and Damaging Wind in Virginia, June 17, 2024Intensifying high pressure suppressed an otherwise favorable convective environment.
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in Minnesota, June 18, 2024Widespread thunderstorms affected eastern ND and northwestern MN in the early morning hours of June 18th.
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in Minnesota, June 18 to 24, 2024On Tuesday, June 18, 2024, a stationary surface front, in conjunction with an anomalously moist airmass over the Northland, resulting in widespread flash flooding.
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in New York, June 18, 2024Strong to severe thunderstorms developed within a highly unstable atmosphere across most of western New York. Thunderstorms developed as an outflow boundary from upstream convection moved into western New York.
- Flooding and Damaging Winds in Kansas, June 18 to 20, 2024A broken lines of strong to severe storms moved into portions of central Kansas during the evening hours of June 18th. Wind gusts between 60 and 78 mph were reported during the event with the highest wind gust reported by the Bunker Hill Kansas State Mesonet site.
- Flash Flooding in Michigan, June 18 to 19, 2024Heavy rains of 3 to 5 inches from thunderstorms washed out culverts over portions of Ontonagon and Houghton counties during the early morning of the 19th.
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in Oklahoma, June 18 to 19, 2024A slow moving cold front moved south out of Kansas into the northern Panhandles during the evening of June 18 into the morning of June 19, 2024.
- Flash Flooding in Wisconsin, June 18 to 19, 2024On Tuesday, June 18, 2024, a stationary surface front, in conjunction with an anomalously moist airmass over the Northland, resulting in widespread flash flooding.
- Flood and Hail in Texas, June 18 to 19, 2024A slow moving cold front moved south out of Kansas into the northern Panhandles during the evening of June 18 into the morning of June 19, 2024.
- Flash Flooding and Damaging Winds in New York, June 19 to 20, 2024Strong to severe thunderstorms developed within a highly unstable atmosphere across most of western and north central New York. Thunderstorms were initiated by a weak lake breeze boundary across the area.
- Flash Flooding and Debris Flows in New Mexico, June 19 to 23, 2024A burst of monsoon moisture surged into eastern NM the morning of June 19th and surged through the gaps of the central mountain chain bringing high wind gusts of up to 58 miles per hour to parts of the Albuquerque metro that afternoon and evening.
- Flash Flood and Damaging Wind in Wisconsin, June 19, 2024Scattered to numerous thunderstorms developed ahead of a slow moving cold front. The training of thunderstorms over Madison led to the flash flooding of streets. Another thunderstorm produced tree damage in southwest Dodge County.
- Flash Flooding in New York, June 20, 2024A slow-moving cluster of thunderstorms developed along a boundary in a hot, humid and unstable environment.
- Flooding in South Dakota, June 20 to 30, 2024A multi-day significant heavy rainfall event from June 20-22 resulted in widespread rain totals between 5 and 10 inches with pockets in excess of 15 inches across portions of southeast South Dakota, northwest Iowa, and southwest Minnesota.
- Flash Flooding and Heavy Rain in Minnesota, June 20 to 22, 2024Catastrophic flooding occurred across parts of Minnesota in mid to late June 2024 as a stationary boundary stalled out across the Upper Midwest.
- Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, June 20, 2024A weak upper-level shortwave provided the focus for convection to develop across northern Pennsylvania during the afternoon of June 20, 2024. High PWAT values near 2 resulted in locally heavy rainfall beneath these slow-moving storms.
- Flash Flood and Debris Flows in Colorado, June 20 to 21, 2024Very deep tropical moisture associated with the remnants of Tropical Storm Alberto combined with monsoonal moisture was forced through eastern Utah and western Colorado due to a large high pressure ridge over the Central U.S. and a deep low pressure trough over the Great Basin.
- Flash Flooding in South Dakota, June 20 to 21, 2024Clusters of thunderstorms with very high rainfall rates from 2 to 4 inches per hour developed by midday on June 20, and despite being transient, continued to redevelop through the evening and into the overnight hours.
- Heavy Rain in Illinois, June 20, 2024During the afternoon of the 20th, a line of showers and thunderstorms produced a narrow corridor of very heavy rainfall in the Sauk Valley area of northern Illinois.
- Flooding in Iowa, June 20 to 30, 2024A multi-day significant heavy rainfall event from June 20-22 resulted in widespread rain totals between 5 and 10 inches across portions of southeast South Dakota, northwest Iowa, and southwest Minnesota.
- Flash Flooding in Iowa, June 20 to 21, 2024Clusters of thunderstorms with very high rainfall rates from 2 to 4 inches per hour developed by midday on June 20, and despite being transient, continued to redevelop through the evening and into the overnight hours. The primary focus occurred between Iowa Highway 9 and U.S.
- Flash Flooding in South Dakota, June 20 to 22, 2024Thunderstorms with heavy rainfall produced flooding across a broad swath of Lyman, Buffalo and Hand counties.
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in Arizona, June 20, 2024The first active convective day of the 2024 monsoon produced several thunderstorms that resulted in strong winds and flash flooding.
- Flash Flooding and Flood in South Dakota, June 20 to 21, 2024Training thunderstorms dumped 2 to 5 inches of rain in less than 3 hours over portions of south-central South Dakota. Runoff from the heavy rain caused several roads to be inundated with water and debris.
- Flooding in Minnesota, June 21 to 30, 2024A multi-day significant heavy rainfall event from June 20-22 resulted in widespread rain totals between 5 and 10 inches across southwest Minnesota. As rainfall reached area streams and rivers, major to record flooding was observed, devastating multiple towns and communities.
- Flash Flood in Minnesota, June 21, 2024Clusters of thunderstorms with very high rainfall rates from 2 to 4 inches per hour developed during the overnight hours June 20-21. The primary focus occurred near and just north of Interstate 90.
- Flash Flood and Flooding in Iowa, June 21 to 22, 2024Heavy rain began late on June 21 and continued into the morning of June 22 as storms persisted along a stalled war front over northern Iowa. A widespread 3-4 inches of rain fell in northern Iowa, resulting in a few road closures across the area.
- Flooding in Minnesota, June 21 to 30, 2024Above normal rainfall over the course of June, combined with a robust rainfall event between June 20th and 22nd, led to widespread river flooding across portions of southeast Minnesota.
- Flooding in Iowa, June 21 to 30, 2024Heavy rain fell over portions of northern Iowa, especially northwestern Iowa and bordering states later on June 20 through early on June 21. This rainfall caused flash flooding in portions of northwest Iowa and also aided in saturating the soil.
- Flash Flooding and Hail in South Dakota, June 21, 2024Southeast South Dakota was on the initial development end of a second mesoscale convective system in just two days as a frontal boundary remained anchored just south of the area. Scattered storms produced some spotty wind gusts as well as locally flooding rainfall.
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Utah, June 21, 2024Thunderstorms brought heavy rain, hail, gusty winds, and flash flooding to portions of southern and eastern Utah.
- Flooding and Hail in Massachusetts, June 21, 2024Two rounds of thunderstorms brought damaging winds and isolated flash flooding to Massachusetts in the afternoon and evening.
- Flash Flooding and Flood in Connecticut, June 21, 2024Two rounds of thunderstorms brought damaging winds and isolated flash flooding to Connecticut in the afternoon and evening.
- Flash Flood and Hail in Wyoming, June 21, 2024Scattered to numerous thunderstorms developed along the Laramie Range during the mid afternoon hours on 6/21.
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Arizona, June 21 to 22, 2024The remnants of Tropical Storm Albert brought moisture northward into Arizona. While at the same time, a trough over the Great Basin moved into the Northern Rockies. This produce thunderstorms over northern Arizona with flooding, storng winds, and hail.
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Iowa, June 21 to 22, 2024More isolated afternoon and early evening storms erupted just north of a frontal boundary across northeast Nebraska and western Iowa, which produced up to quarter size hail and damaging wind gusts of 60 to 75 mph.
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in Nebraska, June 21 to 22, 2024Although it impacted only a handful of west central and especially northern counties of South Central Nebraska, a persistent narrow band of heavy rain on the evening of Friday the 21st into the pre-dawn of Saturday the 22nd caused what was likely the overall most impactful…
- Flash Flood in Rhode Island, June 21, 2024A round of thunderstorms brought isolated flash flooding to Rhode Island in the evening.
- Flash Flooding in Pennsylvania, June 21, 2024A few weak disturbances tracked along the northern periphery of a strong upper ridge, triggering scattered thunderstorms. Many of the storms developed near a frontal boundary that was approaching the New York-Pennsylvania border.
- Flash Flooding in Minnesota, June 21, 2024A second mesoscale convective system in as many nights developed across southeast South Dakota and southwest Minnesota in the late afternoon and early evening in response to a weak mid-level wave and warm advection over a stalled frontal boundary to the south.
- Flash Flood and Damaging Wind in Illinois, June 21 to 22, 2024Several rounds of showers and storms were noted shortly after midnight in northwest Illinois, with a resurgence of showers and storms once again in the afternoon and night. These produced heavy rainfall and isolated severe winds.
- Flash Flooding in Minnesota, June 22, 2024During the early morning hours on June 22nd, a slow moving line of thunderstorms produced flooding resulting in several road closures. Most notably Interstate 90 was closed in Mower County due to water over the road.
- Flooding in Iowa, June 22 to 30, 2024Above normal rainfall over the course of June, combined with a robust rainfall event between June 20th and 22nd, led to widespread river flooding across portions of northeast Iowa.
- Flash Flooding and Damaging Wind in Iowa, June 22, 2024On June 22nd, an initial round of thunderstorms produced localized flash flooding in Fayette County. A secondary round of storms moved through northeast Iowa during the afternoon, producing localized flooding and wind damage in Allamakee County.
- Flooding in Wisconsin, June 22 to 30, 2024Above normal rainfall over the course of June in combination with a robust rainfall event between June 20th and 22nd led to widespread river flooding across portions of western Wisconsin.
- Debris Flow in Colorado, June 22, 2024Remnant moisture remained to fuel some stronger storms across the region, but flooding was more localized in nature. One particular storm caused a mudslide across Highway 64 at mile marker 65 over Rio Blanco County, 11 miles west-southwest of Meeker.
- Flash Flood and Damaging Wind in Arizona, June 22, 2024Thunderstorms brought heavy intense rainfall over the Tucson Metro area. Rainfall totals ranged from 1 to 2.5 inches from Pima County Alert Gauges.
- Flash Flood in Connecticut, June 22, 2024A stationary front was draped across the area on June 22nd under a warm and moist airmass. PWAT values near 1.8 to 2 inches along with MUCAPE values of 1000 to 1500 J/kg allowed for the development of thunderstorms with heavy rainfall on the order of 1-2 per hour rates.
- Flood in Florida, June 22, 2024A coastal low meandering offshore of the GA coast combined with a moist and unstable airmass, low level troughs and sea breezes triggered locally heavy rainfall with precipitable waters values near 2 inches.
- Flooding in Wisconsin, June 22 to 30, 2024Already high river levels, and additional heavy rainfall the evening of June 22nd, led to more river flooding late in June into July over portions of southern WI.
- Flooding in South Dakota, June 22 to 24, 2024Persistent rain across portions of Codington and Hamlin counties resulted in flooding along the South Branch Tributary of Mud Creek, along with a brief rise above flood stage for the Big Sioux near Castlewood.
- Flash Flooding and Damaging Wind in Utah, June 23 to 24, 2024There was flash flooding and gusty outflow winds from showers and thunderstorms.
- Flash Flooding in Vermont, June 23, 2024An area of persistent heavy showers and thunderstorms affected an area from eastern Chittenden, Lamoille, northern Washington and western Caledonia counties during late afternoon on June 23, 2024.
- Flash Flood and Flooding in Iowa, June 24 to 30, 2024A series of shortwave troughs traversing the northern CONUS brought unsettled weather to the area for the end of June. On the 21st, a stationary front was draped across northeast Nebraska into Iowa.
- Flooding in Nebraska, June 24 to 30, 2024A multi-day significant heavy rainfall event from June 20-22 resulted in widespread rain totals between 5 and 10 inches with pockets in excess of 15 inches across parts of southeast South Dakota and northwest Iowa.
- Flash Flooding in Maine, June 24, 2024A cold front stalled over the region with an area of low-pressure riding along it, becoming a focal point for shower and thunderstorm development. The steering winds were under 5 miles per hour, allowing storms to stall.
More
Every billion-dollar disasterEvery storm of 2024Tornadoes in 2024
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.