Damage from Sandy could cost as much as $50B, says forecasting firm

One of many destroyed oceanfront homes in Mantoloking, N.J. 2012 in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 31, 2012. / AP Photo/Wayne Parry

New estimates from forecasting firm Eqecat put the damage from superstorm Sandy at as much as $50 billion, making it the second most expensive storm in U.S. history after Hurricane Katrina.

The new numbers Eqecat released Thursday are more than double the firm's previous estimate.

Eqecat said Sandy may have caused between $30 billion and $50 billion in total economic losses, including property damage, lost business and extra living expenses. The cost to insurance companies could run as low as $10 billion and as high as $20 billion.

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The firm pointed to two reasons that Sandy will leave a bigger bill than it first thought. Power outages are more widespread than in a typical Category 1 storm, Eqecat said. Sandy knocked out electricity for more homes and businesses than any other storm in history, according to the Department of Energy.

On Friday, more than 3.8 million homes and businesses were still without power. At least 92 people in the United States have died, with at least 41 deaths in New York City.

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The lack of subway service in New York City and blocked roadways will also push the total cost higher, Eqecat said.

Before the storm hit, Eqecat had estimated that total economic losses from Sandy could range as high as $20 billion and that losses to insurance companies could reach $10 billion. Payouts for insurance claims are typically a fraction of the overall cost to the economy.

If the damages run into the high end of Eqecat's estimates, it would make Sandy the second-costliest U.S. storm after Katrina in 2005. Katrina's overall costs were $108 billion, which would be the equivalent of $128 billion today.

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Even after adjusting for inflation, the high end of Eqecat's damage estimates for Sandy would be higher than those caused by previous major storms. Andrew, which struck in 1992, cost $44 billion in today's dollars, and the Ike storm of 2008 cost $32 billion.

Another major firm that calculates the cost of catastrophes, RMS, is gathering information before it makes its first estimate. RMS said Thursday that it has two reconnaissance teams out surveying the damage. The firm has offices in Hoboken, N.J., where floodwaters stranded thousands of people. Forecasting firm IHS Global Insight put the cost of the damage along the coast at $20 billion, plus $10 billion to $30 billion in lost business

[thiagodaluz7]

That's insane! I can't imagine what <a href="http://www.svmgilmore.com/residential/residential-services/">residential water damage in Boston</a> might have cost. Here's hoping all this is quickly recovered.

[sjj1222]

Romney will dismantle FEMA and the EPA?
(= more $ for the people/corporations).
Leave it to the states he says. Yeah, sure.
Maybe he'll make dams out of used etch-a-sketches?
What we need is a tidal wave
...of voters.....
to sweep these kind of guys out of power.
This is the BEST way to help victims of present and future Sandys.
?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZENtH3psXl4&feature=player_embedded

[Krowster]

Regardless of who gets elected, I do hope that whomever it is, they do not take credit for the potential increases in jobs opening and manufacturing increases that result from Sandy. It appears to me, that the northeast will have a short boom in jobs that will directly impact and increase the manufacturing and other services areas. These will, no doubt, skew the employment and manufacturing figures for a while.

[wennd2834]

We can afford it. Last year, there was $52.4 billion in sales over the 4-day weekend of Black Friday.

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

FEMA during hurricane Katrina under republican President Bush and hurricane Sandy under Democrat President Obama shows the difference when you have a president and party that uses government to help people and the republican party that use government to put unqualfied people in charge of it and to send tax dollars to private industry without regard to them doing the job right.

If you want a government that works for you vote Democrat. If you want a government that works for corporations, big oil, big pharma and the super rich vote republican.

[Maerzie]

Payasyougo prefers the help should be cheaper or free, as he inflates his follishness in costs that he has ZERO clue to estimate, and said he would come and work free. Sounds like Romney has a new moniker! Romney too, with "ALL MY BUSINESS EXPERIENCE"? is such a foolish joke. How much "business skill" does it take to send our jobs over to a slave-labor country, and pocket the difference, between our wages that he ended for hundreds of families, and slaves making a dollar an hour, working under inhumane conditions?? Addition and subtraction is taught in the second and third grades. Multiplying ill-gotten profits is learned in the third grade. What other great "business experience" did he have to use to steal already great-functioning, profitable companies?? His fluent line of B.S.?? Sorry Mitt! It takes more than B.S. to run a country and handle all the complex problems! Massachusetts certainly has a poor opinion of your "great?" business/management skills! Why were you at the bottom of the 50 states when it came to jobs for your state, when you were governor?

[payasyougo]

$50B. Lets break that down:

$2B in real damages
$200M in cleanup costs
$44B in deferred infrastructure repair, now called damage, costs
$3.8B in overhead to manage/deliver the funds.