Most Costly Disasters

Ringing up at $2.2 billion, the Northeast winter storm of March 1993 is one of the nation's most expensive catastrophic losses involving insured property, as compiled by Insurance Services Office Inc. of New Jersey. Numbers cited here are inflation-adjusted to 2002 dollars.

Pictured: Midtown Manhattan, March 15, 1993

2001 Tornadoes

Tornadoes that slammed 16 states across the Midwest and South in April 2001 cost $2.2 billion in damages.

Hurricane Opal

Hurricane Opal cost $2.5 billion in damages when it struck in October of 1995.

Pictured: a destroyed Navarre Beach home rests in a bay, Oct. 7, 1995, in Navarre Beach, Fla. About 75 percent of the homes in the area were destroyed by Opal's storm surge.

Tropical Storm Allison

Tropical Storm Allison left behind a $2.5 billion cleanup when it struck in July 2001.

Pictured: a trolley car on New Orleans' Canal Street, which was flooded in the storm.

2003 Tornadoes

The most active week of tornadoes on record in the United States struck in May 2003 and cost $3.3 billion in damages.

Pictured: Carolyn Tucker looks over her possessions, May 5, 2003, outside Nashville, Tenn.

Hurricane Georges

The cleanup after Hurricane Georges hit in September 1998 cost $3.3 billion.

Pictured: Key West residents Brian Goss, left, George Wallace and Michael Mooney, right, battle 90 mph winds along Houseboat Row in Key West, Fla., Sept. 25, 1998.

Hurricane Hugo

It cost $6.1 billion to clean up after Hurricane Hugo hit in September 1989.

Pictured: Parts of buildings clutter the streets of Charleston, S.C., Sept. 22, 1989.

Northridge Quake

The 6.7-magnitude January 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles cost $15.2 billion in damages.

Pictured: The damaged Northridge Meadows apartment building, where 16 people died in the quake.

Hurricane Andrew

Hurricane Andrew changed the lives of thousands of Floridans and caused $19.9 billion in damages when it hit in August 1992.

Pictured: The Florida City, Fla., water tower stands over the ruins of the Florida coastal community, Aug. 25, 1992.

September 11 Attacks

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania cost $20.7 billion in damages and was the greatest loss of life ever on U.S. soil.

Pictured: Firefighters at the World Trade Center site, Sept. 12, 2001.