During the summer of 1988, a drought and heat wave affecting the central and eastern portions of the US were responsible for 5,000 to 10,000 deaths, officials estimated, factoring in deaths related to heat stress. The blow to agriculture and related industries totaled about $71.2 billion, making the incident one of the most severe on the “Billion Dollar US Weather Disasters” list, which includes all types of weather-related events and is compiled by the National Climate Data Center.