FEMA Disaster Costs

1990 to 1999

• Damage from more frequent and severe weather calamities and other natural phenomena during the past decade required 460 major disasters to be declared, nearly double the number of Presidential declarations issued for the previous ten-year period and more than any other decade on record.
  
  
• For the 1990-99 period, FEMA spent more than $25.4 billion for declared disasters and emergencies compared to $3.9 billion (current dollars) in disaster aid for the 1980-89 period.*
  
  
• Of the 1990-99 total, more than $6.3 billion was provided in grants for temporary housing, home repairs and other disaster-related needs for individual and families, and $14.8 billion to states and local governments for clean-up and restoration projects, including more than $1.37 billion for mission-assigned work undertaken by other federal agencies.
  
  
• Hurricanes and typhoons were the most costly of the 1990s weather-related events, for which FEMA has currently obligated more than $7.78 billion. A total of 88 declarations were issued for these storms, including a single-year record of 19 in 1999.
  
  
• Included in those costs were $2.5 billion for Hurricane Georges in 1998; $1.8 billion for Hurricane Andrew in 1992; $725.7 million for Hurricane Floyd in1999; $623.1 million for Hurricane Fran in1996; and $491.3 million for Hurricane Marilyn in 1995.
  
  
• Flooding resulting from severe storms and other causes was the most frequently declared type disaster, with more than $7.3 billion committed by FEMA in response and recovery funding. The most costly of these were the Midwest Floods in 1993 ($1.17 billion); the Red River Valley Floods in 1997 ($730.8 million); and Tropical Storm Alberto in 1994 ($544.2)
  
  
• Among other major flooding events requiring more than $100 million in FEMA funding were the Northeast Coastal Storms in 1992; the Arizona Floods in 1993; the Houston Floods in 1994; the New Orleans Floods in 1995; the Mid-Atlantic and Pacific Northwest Floods in 1996; the Ohio River Valley Floods in 1997; the Texas Floods in 1998; and the California Floods in 1993, 1995 and 1998.
  
  
• More tornado-related disasters were declared in the 1990s than in any other recent period, including a record of 17 declarations issued in 1998. For the decade, a total of 102 such disasters were declared at a cost of more than $1.72 billion in FEMA assistance.
  
  
• The decade also saw a surge in damaging winter storms including the East Coast Blizzards of 1993 and 1996. A total of 86 major disasters and emergencies were declared for these events with FEMA costs totaling nearly $1 billion.
  
  
• For non-weather related events. the 1994 Northridge earthquake in southern California stands out as the period's most dramatic and costly single disaster recovery, requiring nearly $7 billion in FEMA funding.

*Funding for the 1980-89 period represents costs for FEMA assistance programs only under declared major disasters. Comparative funding for the 1990-99 period represents FEMA assistance programs and all other associated recovery costs, including hazard mitigation grants, federal mission assignments, contractual services and administrative expenses.