Tornadoes affect far more states than those that comprise Tornado Alley — the stretch of the central U.S. where clashes of cold and warm air can produce the right conditions for tornadic activity — a ValuePenguin study of the last decade of data from the National Weather Service (NWS) and the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) reveals. In the past decade, tornadoes have caused more than $14.1 billion in total damage across the U.S.
From 2010 through 2020, tornadoes resulted in $2.5 million in property damage per storm. In response to the devastation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) allotted nearly $360 million in public assistance to states that were hit especially hard by tornadoes — more than $22 million per disaster declaration. FEMA’s records show that just two states received nearly 50% of the agency’s disaster relief funds during this period, with unlikely Massachusetts leading the way.
But while the federal government’s efforts to repair tornado damage pose a multibillion-dollar financial commitment, data from insurers doesn’t indicate that affected property owners will face huge premium increases if a storm destroys their homes. Rather, rate information shows an average per-year increase of only $180 in the states most likely to experience the greatest number of tornadoes.
Key findings
- In the past decade, tornadoes have caused $2.5 million in damage per storm, for a total of more than $14.1 billion — along with nearly 1,000 deaths.
- Just five states (Texas, Illinois, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas) account for more than half of the damage caused by tornadoes during this time. And two states received just shy of 50% of FEMA’s money during this period — with Massachusetts leading the way.
- In the 13 states that are most prone to tornadoes, homeowners generally don’t face punitive increases to their premiums after a catastrophic loss. Insurance rates increased by an average of 8% following a total loss.
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2010-2020: Tornadoes caused more than $2.5 million in property damage per storm & nearly 1,000 fatalities
From 2010 to 2020, a total of 5,710 tornadoes spawned across the United States. Combined, tornadoes destroyed more than $14.1 billion in property and crops across the 48 states that had damages. In each of Alabama, Texas, Mississippi and Illinois, twisters dealt out more than $1 billion in damages. These states, all in or adjacent to Tornado Alley, saw 1,167 storms from 2010 to 2020 — one-fifth of the country’s total. However, many of the places that experienced the most storms and the most damage aren’t necessarily tornadic hot spots.
Despite experiencing fewer tornadoes relative to the most-affected areas, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina suffered more economic devastation than states with more storms.
A comparison of the distribution of storms and the total amount of damage they inflicted shows that the amount of tornadoes an area experienced didn’t have a directly proportional relationship to the cost of damage the storms caused.
Our comparison showed that the states in the top 25th percentile experienced at least 185 tornadoes during the last decade. At the same time, storms wrought at least $325.7 million worth of destruction to the top quarter of most-damaged states. But the states at the top of both categories weren’t the same.
Five states — Florida, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Colorado and Nebraska — experienced a higher proportion of total tornadoes relative to other states, but saw less damage. There were an average of 218 tornadoes in these states, higher than the 185 that marks the top 25% most-affected states. At the same time, storms caused more than $122.5 million in property damage in these states, on average — closer to the median in terms of damage.
Similarly, relatively fewer storms hit Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina compared to the most-affected states. But the storms that did hit these four were more damaging to these communities. While an average of 149 tornadoes touched down in these states from 2010 to 2020, they caused an average of nearly $696.4 million in damage — more than double the threshold of damage experienced by states in the top 25% of most financially devastated regions.
Here are the number of tornadoes per state, from most to least, with just one state having no tornadoes from 2010 to 2020.
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1. Texas
Storms: 513
Total damage: $1.68 billion
Deaths: 35
Image Credit: Meindert van der Haven / iStock.
2. Kansas
Storms: 290
Total damage: $592.86 million
Deaths: 4
Image Credit: Michael Pham.
3. Florida
Storms: 261
Total damage: $103.23 million
Deaths: 3
Image Credit: Alina McCullen / iStock.
4. Illinois
Storms: 247
Total damage: $1.42 billion
Deaths: 23
Image Credit: EJ_Rodriquez / iStock.
5. Oklahoma
Storms: 216
Total damage: $188.91 million
Deaths: 69
Image Credit: Minerva Studio / iStock.
6. Missouri
Storms: 216
Total damage: $675 million
Deaths: 174
Image Credit: Lana2011 / iStock.
7. Louisiana
Storms: 215
Total damage: $471 million
Deaths: 16
Image Credit: DenisTangneyJr/istockphoto.
8. Mississippi
Storms: 211
Total damage: $1.46 billion
Deaths: 94
Image Credit: Sean Pavone / iStock.
9. Minnesota
Storms: 208
Total damage: $212 million
Deaths: 5
Image Credit: mdesigner125 / iStock.
10. Colorado
Storms: 205
Total damage: $2.75 million
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: rtrible / iStock.
11. Iowa
Storms: 204
Total damage: $408 million
Deaths: 4
Image Credit: vintagemirror / iStock.
12. Nebraska
Storms: 202
Total damage: $105.58 million
Deaths: 2
Image Credit: Meredith Heil / iStock.
13. Alabama
Storms: 196
Total damage: $1.90 billion
Deaths: 284
Image Credit: JudyKennamer / iStock.
14. Arkansas
Storms: 173
Total damage: $916.16 million
Deaths: 40
Image Credit: benjaminjk / iStock.
15. Georgia
Storms: 162
Total damage: $661.25 million
Deaths: 42
Image Credit: Sean Davis / iStock.
16. North Carolina
Storms: 157
Total damage: $617.77 million
Deaths: 29
Image Credit: Myles Gelbach / iStock.
17. Indiana
Storms: 151
Total damage: $99 million
Deaths: 14
Image Credit: Exclusive Image / iStock.
18. Pennsylvania
Storms: 146
Total damage: $42 million
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: Meredith Heil / iStock.
19. Kentucky
Storms: 144
Total damage: $202.82 million
Deaths: 23
Image Credit: Wanda Jewell / iStock.
20. Ohio
Storms: 139
Total damage: $780.96 million
Deaths: 12
Image Credit: MediaMoments / iStock.
21. Wisconsin
Storms: 139
Total damage: $171.46 million
Deaths: 2
Image Credit: steverts / iStock.
22. Tennessee
Storms: 136
Total damage: $725.43 million
Deaths: 70
Image Credit: RichardBarrow / iStock.
23. North Dakota
Storms: 131
Total damage: $32.67 million
Deaths: 2
Image Credit: Meindert van der Haven / iStock.
24. South Dakota
Storms: 120
Total damage: $28.12 million
Deaths: 1
Image Credit: mdesigner125 / iStock.
25. South Carolina
Storms: 100
Total damage: $137.25 million
Deaths: 12
Image Credit: Pamela Paras / iStock.
26. Michigan
Storms: 86
Total damage: $111.82 million
Deaths: 1
Image Credit: gabes1976 / iStock.
27. Virginia
Storms: 81
Total damage: $125.74 million
Deaths: 11
Image Credit: josephgruber / iStock.
28. Wyoming
Storms: 73
Total damage: $954,000
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: mdesigner125 / iStock.
29. New York
Storms: 70
Total damage: $57.60 million
Deaths: 6
Image Credit: Damiano LoBasso / iStock.
30. California
Storms: 70
Total damage: $26.08 million
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: DogoraSun / iStock.
31. New Mexico
Storms: 69
Total damage: $5.98 million
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: mdesigner125 /.
32. Montana
Storms: 52
Total damage: $33.06 million
Deaths: 2
Image Credit: mdesigner125 / iStock.
33. Maryland
Storms: 52
Total damage: $7.73 million
Deaths: 2
Image Credit: johnemac72 / iStock.
34. Arizona
Storms: 37
Total damage: $2.68 million
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: mdesigner125 / iStock.
35. Idaho
Storms: 25
Total damage: $37,500
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: Gert Hilbink / iStock.
36. West Virginia
Storms: 24
Total damage: $5.64 million
Deaths: 1
Image Credit: BackyardProduction / iStock.
37. Connecticut
Storms: 21
Total damage: $9.77 million
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: Heiko_Lehner_HL-PhotographME / iStock.
38. Washington
Storms: 21
Total damage: $1.9 million
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: dbvirago / iStock.
39. New Jersey
Storms: 20
Total damage: $592,000
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: tatianatatiana / iStock.
40. Maine
Storms: 20
Total damage: $2,000
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: Michael ONeill / iStock.
41. Oregon
Storms: 19
Total damage: $2.78 million
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: michaelschober / iStock.
42. Massachusetts
Storms: 18
Total damage: $243.46 million
Deaths: 3
Image Credit: wekojo / iStock.
43. Nevada
Storms: 15
Total damage: $2,000
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: Steven-Baranek / iStock.
44. New Hampshire
Storms: 13
Total damage: $5,000
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: Kirkikis / iStock.
45. Utah
Storms: 11
Total damage: $2.34 million
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: mdesigner125 / iStock.
46. Delaware
Storms: 9
Total damage: $450,000
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: mdgmorris / iStock.
47. Vermont
Storms: 5
Total damage: $70,000
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: Cavan Images / iStock.
48. Rhode Island
Storms: 3
Total damage: $1.05 million
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: diane39 / iStock.
49. Hawaii
Storms: 3
Total damage: $0
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: gcosoveanu / iStock.
50. Washington, DC
Storms: 1
Total damage: $0
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: josephgruber / iStock.
51. Alaska
Storms: 0
Total damage: $0
Deaths: 0
Image Credit: Martina Birnbaum / iStock.
Methodology
ValuePenguin collected storm data, including volume, affected states, property and crop damage and death figures, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information, which posts storm data aggregated from the National Weather Service.
Our data reflects unique storm episodes, rather than events. In the National Weather Service’s reporting, unique episodes can have more than one event. A new event may occur when a storm crosses state lines or recedes and descends from the clouds.
This article originally appeared on ValuePenguin.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
Image Credit: ExtremeTornadoTours/facebook.com.
