CBS News
May tornadoes, derecho storm push weather damages past $25 billion so far this year
A deadly outbreak of tornadoes last month caused $4.7 billion in damages across the Southern, Southeastern and Central U.S., making it one of the costliest weather events of the year so far, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Monday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said there had been 11 confirmed weather and climate disaster events so far this year with losses exceeding $1 billion, with the total price tag topping $25 billion. There were more than 165 tornadoes during the May 6-9 outbreak, impacting Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, officials said.
A southern derecho —a widespread and long-lived wind storm associated with rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms— also caused more than $1 billion in damage in May, according to government data. The May 16-17 storm spanning from Texas to Florida killed at least eight people and caused $1.2 billion in damages. Winds topping 110 mph tore through parts of central and eastern Texas during the storm. The NOAA described May as a “turbulent month.”
NOAA NCEI
The list of damaging weather events in May may grow with additional events during the NOAA update in early June, an agency spokesman said. The cutoff date for this analysis was mid-May and there were several costly hail events that occurred during the second half of May that are still being reviewed.
Other notable storms from this year include a January winter storm in the northwest and multiple tornado outbreaks in April. In March, damaging hail, tornadoes and high winds cost $5.9 billion, adjusted for inflation. Officials said a preliminary count showed 450 tornadoes across the U.S. in March and April combined. The deadliest single tornado of the year to date hit Greenfield, Iowa, on May 21, causing widespread destruction and killing five.
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which is predicted to be above normal, began at the start of June and will last until Nov. 30. Federal forecasters predict 17 to 25 named storms, 8 to 13 hurricanes, and 4 to 7 major hurricanes of category 3 or higher.
For all United States hurricanes, 2005’s Hurricane Katrina is the costliest on record, incurring $200 billion in damage. Harvey in 2017, Ian in 2022, Maria in 2017 and Sandy in 2012 cost $158.8 billion, $118.5 billion, $114.3 billion and $88.5 billion, adjusted for inflation, respectively.
NOAA
In May, officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency joined NOAA officials to announced the hurricane outlook for the season. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell at the time noted that severe weather was “becoming part of our new normal,” while FEMA Deputy Administrator Erik A. Hooks. said that severe weather events “continue to increase in frequency and duration.”
“In recent years, there were just 18 days on average between billion-dollar disasters, compared to 82 days in the 1980s,” NOAA spokesperson Adam Smith said. “These shorter time intervals between disasters often mean less time and resources available to respond, recover and prepare for future events. This increased frequency of events produces cascading impacts that are particularly challenging to vulnerable socioeconomic populations.”
Last year, there were 28 weather events with losses exceeding $1 billion each —surpassing the previous record of 22 in 2020. Nearly 500 people died in those storms. Criswell warned in August of 2023 that the organization’s disaster fund could dry up and delay the federal response to natural disasters.
FEMA’s May major disaster relief fund report, which covers 2024 as of the end of April, shows the fund could be more than $1.3 billion in the red by August.
“FEMA continues to work with the Administration and Congress to ensure sufficient funding is available,” a FEMA spokesperson said in a statement. “Without additional funding, FEMA will take steps prior to funding exhaustion to ensure resources are available to support ongoing lifesaving and life sustaining activities and provide a reserve for initial response and recovery operations for a new catastrophic event.”
In 2022, there were 18 extreme weather events that caused at least $1 billion in damage each, totaling more than $165 billion.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power, has died. He was 82.
A spokesperson for USA Gymnastics confirmed to CBS News by email that Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given.
Karolyi and wife Martha trained multiple Olympic gold medalists and world champions in the U.S. and Romania, including Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton.
Ron Jenkins/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
“A big impact and influence on my life,” Comaneci, who was just 14 when Karolyi coached her to gold for Romania at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, posted on Instagram.
The Karolyis defected to the United States in 1981 and over the next 30-plus years became a guiding force in American gymnastics, though not without controversy. Bela helped guide Retton — all of 16 — to the Olympic all-around title at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and memorably helped an injured Kerri Strug off the floor at the 1996 Games in Atlanta after Strug’s vault secured the team gold for the Americans.
Karolyi briefly became the national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics women’s elite program in 1999 and incorporated a semi-centralized system that eventually turned the Americans into the sport’s gold standard. It did not come without a cost. He was pushed out after the 2000 Olympics after several athletes spoke out about his tactics.
It would not be the last time Karolyi was accused of grandstanding and pushing his athletes too far physically and mentally.
During the height of the Larry Nassar scandal in the late 2010s — when the disgraced former USA Gymnastics team doctor was effectively given a life sentence after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting gymnasts and other athletes with his hands under the guise of medical treatment — over a dozen former gymnasts came forward saying the Karolyis were part of a system that created an oppressive culture that allowed Nassar’s behavior to run unchecked for years.
Still, some of Karolyi’s most famous students were always among his staunchest defenders. When Strug got married, she and Karolyi took a photo recreating their famous scene from the 1996 Olympics, when he carried her onto the medals podium after she vaulted on a badly sprained ankle.
Despite losing his boxing match to Jake Paul, Mike Tyson in a social media post Saturday said he had “no regrets” to getting “in ring one last time.”
The boxing legend was defeated by social media star Jake Paul in a highly anticipated fight on Friday night with an age difference of over three decades between the two contenders.
Netflix said Saturday that 60 million households worldwide tuned in to watch the match. The two fighters went eight full rounds, with each round two minutes long. Paul defeated Tyson by unanimous decision and the 27-year-old upset boxer and 58-year-old former heavyweight champion hugged afterward.
Paul was expected to earn about $40 million from the fight, and Tyson was expected to take around $20 million for the fight, according to DraftKings and other online reports.
Getty Images
Tyson said on his social media that “this is one of those situations when you lost but still won. I’m grateful for last night.”
The fight almost didn’t happen after Tyson experienced an ulcer flare-up while on a plane in March. He addressed his illness Saturday, writing that he “almost died in June.” He said he had eight blood transfusions and “lost half my blood and 25lbs in hospital and had to fight to get healthy to fight so I won.”
Tyson retired from boxing in 2005 after a 20-year career. He last fought in a 2020 exhibition match against former four-division world champ Roy Jones Jr.
“To have my children see me stand toe to toe and finish 8 rounds with a talented fighter half my age in front of a packed Dallas Cowboy stadium is an experience that no man has the right to ask for. Thank you,” he said.
Alex Sundby and
contributed to this report.
