Surprisingly, Iowa's A State Most Impacted By Natural Disasters

Those that live in Iowa know that Mother Nature can be cruel. Others outside of the state in other regions probably think Iowa primarily experiences tornadoes and blizzards are our typical natural disasters.

Canva

The rest of us that live in Iowa have experienced and have seen much worse happen in the state. From a recording-breaking derecho to "once-in-a-century" floods, droughts to tornado outbreaks, Iowa is more prone to natural disasters than one might think.

August 2020 Derecho

On Monday, August 10th, 2020, the state of Iowa and northern Illinois experienced one of the worst storms in history. Unless you were a meteorologist, you didn't know what to call it besides a devastating storm. After everything was said and done, the only word people could say in Iowa and throughout the Quad Cities was derecho.

NWS Chicago

A derecho is a line of powerful, quick windstorms sometimes joined by thunderstorms traversing a large expanse of land. This derecho traveled a total of 770 miles in just 14 hours.

Northern IL Severe Weather via Facebook

The derecho did $11.0 billion in damage and took 4 lives.

Iowa Flood Of 2008

Those in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids remember the flood of 2008 all too well. In 2008 the Iowa and Cedar Rivers reached water levels that no one had seen before or since 2008, according to The Gazette. The flooding took place between early June and early July.

Downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa on June 13, 2008, as the Cedar River crested more than 11 feet above its previous record. Photo by the Iowa Civil Air Patrol. (Obtained from the National Weather Service)

The Gazette reports that across the state of Iowa, flooding forced 85 of Iowa's 99 counties to be declared as federal disaster areas. A total of $10 billion in damage, according to the National Weather Service.

Davenport Flood 2019

In recent memory, we remember back on Tuesday afternoon of April 30th, the flood protection on River Dr at Pershing Ave in Davenport failed flooding much of downtown Davenport.

Pershing Ave, Iowa St, and E 2nd St were immediately underwater in a matter of minutes. The total cost of that flood was $3.5 million, according to WQAD.

Iowa Is The 5th Most Impacted State By Natural Disasters

The reason I bring all of that up is to prove that Iowa's had some pretty nasty natural disasters just in the last 15 years that have caused billions of dollars in damage.

Daniel Acker, Getty Images

This is why WalletHub has put Iowa as the 5th most impacted state by Natural Disasters. Iowa ranks 1st in Loss Amount from Climate Disasters Causing $1 Billion+ in Damage per Capita (1980-2023). It ranks 21st in the Number of Climate Disasters Causing $1 Billion+ in Damage (1980-2023).

Source: WalletHub

Those are just three examples of natural disasters to impact Iowa in recent years. You can read about more that have done even more damage here.

Quad Cities Tree Damage From Wednesday's Storm

Residents throughout the Quad Cities saw a ton of tree debris and tree damage from a storm with strong winds on Wednesday, August 11, 2021. One year and one day after the 2020 Derecho that caused over $11 billion in damage, this storm only left over 14,000 Quad City homes without power for a few hours and minimum tree damage.

LOOK: The most expensive weather and climate disasters in recent decades

Stacker ranked the most expensive climate disasters by the billions since 1980 by the total cost of all damages, adjusted for inflation, based on 2021 data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The list starts with Hurricane Sally, which caused $7.3 billion in damages in 2020, and ends with a devastating 2005 hurricane that caused $170 billion in damage and killed at least 1,833 people. Keep reading to discover the 50 of the most expensive climate disasters in recent decades in the U.S.

Source: Surprisingly, Iowa’s A State Most Impacted By Natural Disasters