00:51 Floating Fire Ants Left Behind in Texas Floodwaters After Beta Fire ants are notorious for creating rafts with their bodies after flooding. Avoid them because their stings are venomous.

At a Glance NOAA said two billion-dollar weather disasters have struck the U.S. so far in 2019.

Those include Winter Storm Quiana in late February and the "bomb cyclone," Winter Storm Ulmer, in mid-March.

Two billion-dollar weather disasters have already struck the United States in the first quarter of 2019 , NOAA said in a release Tuesday.

The first of those disasters was associated with Winter Storm Quiana in late February, and the second was Winter Storm Ulmer , the so-called "bomb cyclone" in mid-March. A combined five deaths resulted from these two weather disasters.

1. Winter Storm Quiana

Winter Storm Quiana was a cross-country snowstorm that brought snow to the West and Southwest, including Las Vegas and the hills around Los Angeles; dumped an all-time record calendar-day snow in Flagstaff, Arizona; and then moved into the Plains and upper Midwest, where it produced blizzard conditions in nine states.

However, most of the $1.2 billion in damages from this storm, according to NOAA, happened in the East as a result of high-wind damage in the Ohio Valley and Northeast, as well as tornadoes, severe weather and flooding on the storm's warm side in the South, which included major flooding along parts of the Ohio, Mississippi and Tennessee rivers.

(MORE: Winter Storm Quiana Recap)

Wind gusts of 70 to 80 mph were clocked near the shores of lakes Erie and Ontario in western and central New York Feb. 24-25, with 40- to 65-plus-mph gusts reported over a rather large swath of the Midwest, Great Lakes, Appalachians and Northeast. Hundreds of thousands were left in the dark as trees and power lines were blown down by these powerful winds.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/feb_24-25_wind_damage_reports_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/feb_24-25_wind_damage_reports_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/feb_24-25_wind_damage_reports_0.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" > High-wind or wind-damage reports from Winter Storm Quiana Feb. 24-25, 2019.

Heavy rain on the warm side of Quiana flooded much of the Knoxville, Tennessee, metro area and even caused a 60-foot-deep sinkhole to open up just northwest of the city in Powell. Some portions of roads in East Tennessee were entirely washed away by landslides.

(MORE: Standing Water, Sinkholes Reported in the South)

Also associated with Quiana's warm side, an EF3 tornado tore through Columbus, Mississippi , on Feb. 23 and caused significant damage in the city.

In total, Quiana was responsible for two deaths , NOAA said.

2. 'Bomb Cyclone' Winter Storm Ulmer

Winter Storm Ulmer was a blizzard that paralyzed travel in parts of the Plains, produced damaging winds in some places that didn't pick up any snow, triggered massive, record-breaking Plains flooding and set new low-pressure records as a bomb cyclone.

The price tag hadn't yet been determined by NOAA as of April 9, but it was the historic Plains flooding that caused the most damage.

(MORE: Winter Storm Ulmer Recap)

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/gettyimages-1137096383_1.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/gettyimages-1137096383_1.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/gettyimages-1137096383_1.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" > Homes and businesses are surrounded by floodwaters on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, in Hamburg, Iowa. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The flooding inundated millions of acres of agriculture and numerous cities and towns, and it caused widespread damage to roads, bridges, levees and dams in the region.

Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin were the states most affected by this billion-dollar weather disaster, NOAA said.

Between the storm and two weeks of subsequent flooding, total economic losses were estimated by insurance broker Aon at more than $4 billion .

Three deaths were blamed on this flooding, which is still ongoing and is expected to persist through the spring.

(MORE: More Historic, Widespread Flooding Expected This Spring in Central U.S.)