Dallas Tornadoes Expected to Be 11th Billion-Dollar Weather Disaster of 2019

Ten other weather disasters have caused at least $1 billion in damage in the U.S. so far in 2019, according to a government report released earlier in October.

Among those billion-dollar weather disasters in the first nine months of the year were a pair of landfalling tropical cyclones, NOAA said in its findings. Severe weather, drought and river flooding also made the list.

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Hurricane Dorian's deadliest and most destructive chapter was written in the northern Bahamas. However, storm surge flood damage in North Carolina's Outer Banks – where Dorian made landfall – as well as wind and tornado damage pushed the U.S. toll to at least $1 billion, NOAA concluded. More precise damage figures have yet to be determined.

Multiple feet of rainfall from Tropical Storm Imelda near the upper Texas coast flooded thousands of homes, vehicles and businesses, putting it on the billion-dollar disaster list, NOAA said. As with Dorian, a full damage estimate has yet to be calculated.

Three major river flooding events made 2019's list, starting with a record-breaking deluge in the Missouri Valley in March triggered by a confluence of record cold, melting snow and a bomb cyclone's rain. Towns were flooded, bridges, roads and levees damaged and millions of acres of farmland were inundated into the summer.

The months-long Mississippi River Valley flood from spring into early summer also likely inflicted at least $1 billion in damage, NOAA's report said. Some stretches of the Mississippi River were above flood stage from January through July or August.

Record flooding along stretches of the Arkansas River was the other billion-dollar flood of 2019. Homes, vehicles, businesses, roads, bridges and levees were damaged in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas from May through July.

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The other five billion-dollar disasters this year were from severe thunderstorms or outbreaks.