Ranked by direct economic damage in dollars-at-time-of-event. The costliest single US tornado hit Joplin, Missouri in 2011 with $2.8 billion in damage — more than the entire economic output of some small countries.
Destroyed more than 7,000 buildings in the city of Joplin, including a 9-story hospital that was shifted off its foundation. Insured losses alone exceeded $2.2 billion. The costliest single US tornado on record. Read the full story →
Part of the 2011 Super Outbreak. Cut an 80-mile path through Tuscaloosa and into western Birmingham, destroying approximately 7,000 structures across two major metros. Read the full story →
Destroyed approximately 1,150 homes and two elementary schools in a direct hit on Moore, Oklahoma. Extensive damage to the Moore Medical Center and hundreds of businesses. Read the full story →
Nominal 1925 damage of $16.5 million equates to approximately $1.9 billion in modern purchasing power. Destroyed multiple towns entirely across three states. Read the full story →
Destroyed the town of Hackleburg including the Wrangler jeans distribution center — a large steel-framed industrial facility. Long-track EF5 that traveled 132 miles across northern Alabama into Tennessee. Read the full story →
The tornado that produced the highest wind speed ever measured (301 mph). Damage was concentrated in Bridge Creek and southern Moore. Combined with other tornadoes of the May 3 outbreak, total damage exceeded $1.5 billion. Read the full story →
Nominal 1896 damage of approximately $10 million equates to over $1.5 billion today. Damaged the Eads Bridge, destroyed hundreds of urban buildings, and reshaped how American cities thought about severe weather preparedness.
Nominal 1974 damage of approximately $100 million. Destroyed roughly half the town of Xenia, Ohio — schools, churches, downtown, and hundreds of homes. Part of the 1974 Super Outbreak. Read the full story →
Struck Enterprise High School during afternoon dismissal, killing 8 students. Destroyed approximately 25 percent of the town. Widely cited as a case study in the need for storm shelters in schools.
The first tornado ever rated EF5. Destroyed approximately 95 percent of the town of Greensburg (population 1,574). The town rebuilt as a national model for sustainable design. Read the full story →
Every tornado in the top 3 by absolute damage occurred within a 24-month window in 2011–2013 — a striking concentration. Two factors drove the pattern: (1) the 2011 Super Outbreak of April 25–28 alone produced $10+ billion in aggregate damage across the southeastern US, and (2) urban tornado paths increasingly cross expensive infrastructure — hospitals, schools, big-box retail, industrial complexes — that did not exist to the same extent 50 years ago.
The costliest tornadoes are not the deadliest. Modern warning and building standards mean a $2 billion tornado today may kill fewer people than a $50 million tornado killed a century ago. Joplin 2011 (158 dead) is the only modern tornado in both lists; the 1925 Tri-State event is the only tornado to top both by pre-2000 standards.
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