Superstorm Sandy Could Cost The US $45bn

[Obambam]

The US begins to count the cost of Hurricane Sandy which caused wide-spread flooding and power outages across the East Coast.

1:34pm UK, Wednesday 31 October 2012

Streets are covered by beach sand in Long Beach, New York

Superstorm Sandy, which ripped through the east coast of the US, could cost around $45bn (£27.9bn), according to the latest estimate.

The figure, from professional services firm PwC, allows for a rise in original estimations as the full scale of damage becomes clear.

"There is clearly the potential for initial estimates to rise as we saw with Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Irene which underestimated the scale and level of damage caused," Mohammad Khan, insurance partner, PwC said.

An earlier estimate by forecasting company IHS Global Insight said the storm would cause about $20bn (£12.4bn) in damage and between $10bn (£ 6.2bn) and $30bn (£18.6bn) in lost business.

While risk consultants AIR Worldwide estimated losses up to $15bn (£9.3bn).

Mr Khan added that interruptions to business will make up a significant part of the overall losses - with Hurricane Katrina these claims made up approximately 20% of the overall insurance claims.

Damage on the New Jersey coastline

"Whether this is applicable to Sandy depends on the swiftness of recovery of the subway and other transports links which would be a good proxy for the recovery of New York in general," he said.

Businesses have been hit by a host of problems caused by the storm, including the flooding of the New York subway system which suffered the worst damage in its 108-year history.

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said it could be four or five days before the subway is running again.

The city's financial district was also flooded by ******** of rainwater - leading to the closure of Wall Street on both Monday and Tuesday.

They reopened on Wednesday, with mayor Bloomberg ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

A road in North Carolina buckles following the storm

At the height of the storm, more than 8 million homes and businesses lost electricity - nearly a quarter of which were in New York.

Power company Consolidated Edison said it would be four days before its customers in Manhattan and Brooklyn would have power again, and it could take a week to restore outages in other New York districts.

But there was some good news from the region's airports - John F. Kennedy International in New York and Newark Liberty International said they planned to reopen with limited service on Wednesday.

Almost 19,000 flights have been cancelled since Sunday, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.com, and New York's LaGuardia Airport is still flooded and remained closed.

Superstorm Sandy Could Cost The US $45bn

 

[American Pakistani]

Very sad, previous figure was 19billionUS$.

 

[hussain0216]

Maybe something like this will stop the americans from attacking iran for israel

with so many americans suffering they should atleast find it hard to justify more wars

 

[longyi]

Insured US storm losses US$7-US$15b


Well, at least part of the money will come from a rich private sector. We all know Federal and local governments are broke and whatever money they contribute will have to be be borrowed. If one adds on the productions and business lost the number can be much higher. In Manhattan alone all the areas below 32nd Street are out of electricity and they probably won't have it until the middle of next week. This alone can run into tens of billions of dollars in terms of transaction lost.


Insured US storm losses US$7-US$15b

WASHINGTON: Insured losses from the massive superstorm Sandy that battered the US East Coast could run between US$7 billion and US$15 billion, catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide said Tuesday.

AIR said the damages were akin to much more intense hurricanes, because of the gigantic size of Sandy and its collision with another huge front sweeping in from the west, wreaking havoc over a much broader area than other megastorms.

AIR's estimates included wind and storm surge damage to onshore residential, commercial and industrial properties and their contents, automobiles and insured losses related to things like business interruption for companies forced to shut down.

Sandy, rated only a category one hurricane, was nearly twice the size of the devastating Category 3 Hurricane Katrina of 2005, AIR said.

AIR said tropical force winds from Sandy affected an area spanning 950 miles (1,530 kilometers), and hurricane force winds extending 175 miles from its center, much more than other extremely damaging hurricanes.

"Sandy's diameter made it the largest Atlantic hurricane on record in terms of the span of tropical storm-force winds," the company said.

"The storm affected areas as far north as Toronto and west to the Great Lakes."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1234462/1/.html

 

[Obambam]

Very sad, previous figure was 19billionUS$.

It is unfortunate, but I'm sure America can cope.
My heart is with the victims who have lost their loved ones, their assets
or is living in the dark and cold. I hope their lives can be put back on track as soon as possible.

 

[Zabaniyah]

$45 billion? O.O

Oh boy, and they say my country is the most vulnerable to climate change.

Ah well...RIP to the victims and Godspeed to recovery.

Maybe something like this will stop the americans from attacking iran for israel

with so many americans suffering they should atleast find it hard to justify more wars

You mad bro?

 

[Burger Boy]

don't worry that 45 bn is just paper. .... federal reserve.