Invest 92L: Rain, Rough Surf For Southeast

It doesn't always have to have a category rating — here are five tropical storms that overachieved some of their hurricane counterparts:

Tropical Storms So Bad Their Names Aren’t Used Anymore

Tropical Storm Allison (2001) essentially drowned the Houston metropolitan area and is the deadliest U.S. tropical storm. It killed 41 people across six states; freshwater flooding claimed 27 of those victims.

More than 40 inches of rainfall inundated parts of southeast Texas and more than 2 feet of rain fell in the Houston metropolitan area and in southern Louisiana.

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Allison is one of the poster children that illustrate water is the deadliest weapon a tropical storm or hurricane has.

This storm was particularly damaging as well. Adjusted to 2024 USD, it was responsible for $15.1 billion in adjusted costs.

Allison is only one of two tropical storms that had their names retired, dating back to the mid-1950s. These names joined the list with the likes of Katrina, Sandy and Andrew.

Tropical Storm Erika (2015) devastated Dominica and caused 30 deaths, becoming the second non-hurricane name to be stricken from the list.

While several names are retired every year, Erika sticks out because it was retired alongside Hurricane Joaquin, which raked the Bahamas that year, and Hurricane Patricia, which was the strongest tropical cyclone anywhere in the world by wind speed and caused significant damage in Mexico.

(MORE: Tropical Storm Erika Recap)

More than a foot of rain fell on the island in just 12 hours, which caused flooding and mudslides. Erika was the worst cyclone to hit Dominica since Hurricane David in 1979, a hurricane that had winds nearly three times as strong.

Damage estimates range as high as $500 million, a figure that made up nearly 90% of the island's gross domestic product.

Notable Tropical Storms In The Last 15 Years

Tropical Storm Imelda (2019) was a surprise tropical storm that drenched the Houston metro area and caused more than $6 billion in damage (2024 USD). Catastrophic flooding resulted from more than 40 inches of rain.

(MORE: Tropical Storm Imelda Recap)

Imelda developed into a tropical depression, then a tropical storm, and made landfall near Freeport, Texas, in just one hour. A bayou in southeast Texas received over 6 inches of rain in an hour two days later.

The region was paralyzed and transportation was shut down. Over 1,000 vehicles were flooded in the Houston area.

Five people were killed, all of them in Texas flooding.

Tropical Storm Lee (2011) was the third-most-damaging tropical storm for the United States and killed 18. Lee was known for its flooding from its landfall point in Louisiana to the mid-Atlantic.

This is one of the storms that was deadlier after it was no longer a tropical cyclone. The storm dropped over 21 inches of rain in Virginia. Seven people were killed in flooding in Pennsylvania, four in Virginia, one in Maryland, and one in Georgia. Nearly all of them were killed trying to cross floodwaters.

Lee’s rain fell upon already flooded ground across the Northeast due to Hurricane Irene a week earlier. The new rain “caused some of the most severe flooding” in history for parts of New York and Pennsylvania. Water levels in some areas topped those seen nearly 40 years earlier in Hurricane Agnes.

The adjusted damage toll today is $3.5 billion, just short of 2023’s Hurricane Idalia damage toll ($3.6 billion), a storm that made landfall in Florida 3 categories stronger.

(Further beef up your forecast with our detailed, hour-by-hour breakdown for the next 8 days – only available on our Premium Pro experience.)

Tropical Storm Fred (2021) made landfall in the Florida Panhandle but was most notable for producing catastrophic rainfall in the Appalachians.

Rainfall totals weren’t as impressive as other recent hurricanes like Helene, but the heaviest rain fell at the headwaters of several rivers. This caused massive flooding along the banks of rivers in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

Fred killed six elderly men and women in flash flooding in Cruso, North Carolina. Some 225 structures were heavily damaged along the Pigeon River, with damage there amounting to $300 million.

Total damage from the storm topped $1.3 billion.

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Jonathan Belles has been a digital meteorologist for weather.com for 9 years and also assists in the production of videos for The Weather Channel en español. His favorite weather is tropical weather, but also enjoys covering high-impact weather and news stories and winter storms. He's a two-time graduate of Florida State University and a proud graduate of St. Petersburg College.