Western Severe Storms and Flooding
One of the severe storm disasters on NOAA’s billion-dollar list: $1.5 billion in losses at 2024 prices ($530 million at the time) and 13 deaths.
What the offices filed during it
The 5 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
The toll
- Losses, 2024 dollars
- $1.5 billion
- Losses at the time
- $530 million
- Deaths
- 13
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1 | 0 | 0 | $250,000 |
| Tennessee | 1 | 0 | 0 | $250,000 |
| Mississippi | 32 | 0 | 0 | $50,000 |
| Alabama | 14 | 0 | 8 | |
| Arkansas | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Episode by episode
More
Every billion-dollar disasterEvery storm of 1986Tornadoes in 1986
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.