On Oct. 15, 1954, Hurricane Hazel made landfall on the border of North and South Carolina. Its path through the Caribbean Sea and Haiti had already cost hundreds of lives, and as it transformed from a Category 4 hurricane to a tropical storm along the Carolina coastline, it wrought an 18-foot storm surge and demolished seaside buildings and roads.
To date, Hazel is the strongest hurricane to hit the North Carolina coast. Its damage in the Carolinas was estimated to cost $163 million, equivalent to $1.8 billion in today's dollars. It caused another $1.6 billion in damage throughout other parts of the U.S.
What was once a standout event has become more common as climate change has accelerated the number of powerful hurricanes. Beyond tropical cyclones, the U.S. is seeing more frequent billion-dollar climate-related disasters. During the 2010s, there were 131 events that caused at least $1 billion in damage, compared to only 33 in the 1980s, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In total, the U.S. has experienced 371 billion-dollar disasters since 1980, 18 of which began in October. April and June have been the start for the most costly severe weather events, with 55 and 54 respectively. October may not be the most intense time of the year, but the end of hurricane season and fall tornado surges in the South are frequent causes of weather disasters during the month.
Stacker used data collected by the NOAA to break down the costliest weather disasters since 1980 that began in the month of October. All cost data is listed in current dollars, and location data is included for storms based on states listed in the written report of each event.
Read on to see the most expensive events, when they happened, their costs, and the number of deaths they caused.
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1 / 18- Disaster type: Winter Storm
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $1.2 billion
- Total deaths: 1
- Begin date: Oct. 29, 2011
- End date: Oct. 30, 2011
- States most affected: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania
John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
2 / 18- Disaster type: Flooding
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $1.3 billion
- Total deaths: 1
- Begin date: Oct. 19, 1996
- End date: Oct. 22, 1996
- States most affected: Maine and Massachusetts
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3 / 18- Disaster type: Severe Storm
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $1.3 billion
- Total deaths: 1
- Begin date: Oct. 2, 2006
- End date: Oct. 5, 2006
- States most affected: Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin
Robert King/Newsmakers // Getty Images
4 / 18- Disaster type: Flooding
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $1.6 billion
- Total deaths: 3
- Begin date: Oct. 3, 2000
- End date: Oct. 4, 2000
- States most affected: Florida
Smiley N. Pool/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
5 / 18- Disaster type: Flooding
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $1.8 billion
- Total deaths: 31
- Begin date: Oct. 16, 1998
- End date: Oct. 24, 1998
- States most affected: Texas
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6 / 18- Disaster type: Flooding
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $2.0 billion
- Total deaths: 19
- Begin date: Oct. 16, 1994
- End date: Oct. 25, 1994
- States most affected: Texas
Ronald Martinez // Getty Images
7 / 18- Disaster type: Severe Storm
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $2.0 billion
- Total deaths: 2
- Begin date: Oct. 20, 2019
- End date: Oct. 20, 2019
- States most affected: Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee
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8 / 18- Disaster type: Flooding
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $2.6 billion
- Total deaths: 25
- Begin date: Oct. 1, 2015
- End date: Oct. 5, 2015
- States most affected: South Carolina
Mario Tama // Getty Images
9 / 18- Disaster type: Tropical Cyclone
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $3.4 billion
- Total deaths: 5
- Begin date: Oct. 9, 2020
- End date: Oct. 11, 2020
- States most affected: Louisiana, eastern Texas, Mississippi, and Georgia
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10 / 18- Disaster type: Tropical Cyclone
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $4.2 billion
- Total deaths: 63
- Begin date: Oct. 27, 1985
- End date: Oct. 31, 1985
- States most affected: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida
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11 / 18- Disaster type: Tropical Cyclone
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $5.1 billion
- Total deaths: 6
- Begin date: Oct. 28, 2020
- End date: Oct. 29, 2020
- States most affected: Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina
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12 / 18- Disaster type: Severe Storm
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $5.3 billion
- Total deaths: 0
- Begin date: Oct. 5, 2010
- End date: Oct. 6, 2010
- States most affected: Arizona
Steve Ringman/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
13 / 18- Disaster type: Wildfire
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $7.3 billion
- Total deaths: 25
- Begin date: Oct. 1, 1991
- End date: Oct. 31, 1991
- States most affected: California
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14 / 18- Disaster type: Tropical Cyclone
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $9.3 billion
- Total deaths: 27
- Begin date: Oct. 4, 1995
- End date: Oct. 6, 1995
- States most affected: Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina
Joe Raedle // Getty Images
15 / 18- Disaster type: Tropical Cyclone
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $12.6 billion
- Total deaths: 49
- Begin date: Oct. 8, 2016
- End date: Oct. 12, 2016
- States most affected: North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia
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Josh Ritchie // Getty Images
16 / 18- Disaster type: Tropical Cyclone
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $29.1 billion
- Total deaths: 35
- Begin date: Oct. 24, 2005
- End date: Oct. 24, 2005
- States most affected: Florida
Joe Raedle // Getty Images
17 / 18- Disaster type: Tropical Cyclone
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $30.2 billion
- Total deaths: 49
- Begin date: Oct. 10, 2018
- End date: Oct. 11, 2018
- States most affected: Florida
Mario Tama // Getty Images
18 / 18- Disaster type: Tropical Cyclone
- Total cost (inflation-adjusted): $85.9 billion
- Total deaths: 159
- Begin date: Oct. 30, 2012
- End date: Oct. 31, 2012
- States most affected: Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire
Data reporting by Emma Rubin. Story editing by Ashleigh Graf. Copy editing by Tim Bruns.
