The FINANCIAL — Already at least 22 deaths and economic looses – these are the results of Hurricane Irene which infuriates in USA, State of New York.
Downgraded with a tropical storm from Category 1 status down, hurricane has already damaged New Jersey and Connecticut.
As hurricane Irene bears down on the East Coast, tourists are fleeing beaches and coastal communities. Residents are hoping that the approaching storm won’t scare them away for long.
Absent major damage, it probably won't.
On the Outer Banks of North Carolina, for example, where hurricane Irene is scheduled to make landfall first, most of the tourists and residents have already cleared out. Tourism is such a driving force of the local economy that the potential loss of many beach homes could wreak havoc on commerce for some time to come.
For the first time in its history, the town decided this year to pump new sand onto a 10-mile stretch of its eroding beach. The $36 million beach nourishment project began in May and the majority of the work was done when the first hurricane Irene warnings began to trickle in.
Experts already count the breakage. According to “Real Clear Politics” online edition, early estimates of the direct damage caused by Hurricane Irene are in the range of $7 billion. Add to those the loss of about one or two days economic activity, spread over a week across 25 percent of the economy, and an initial estimate of the losses imposed by Irene is about $25 to $30 billion.
However, rebuilding after Irene, especially in an economy with high unemployment and underused resources in the construction and building materials industries, will unleash at least $7 billion in new direct private spending-likely more as many folks rebuild larger than before, and the capital stock that emerges will prove more economically useful and productive.
Factoring in the multiplier effect of $7 billion spent rebuilding yields an economic benefit from reconstruction of about $13 billion. Add to that the gains from more a more modern and productive capital stock-likely in the range of $4 billion-and consumer and business spending that is only delayed but not permanently lost-likely in the range of $9 to $12 billion-and the total effects of natural disasters of the scale of Irene are not large two years down the road.
Irene shut down Manhattan and substantially reduced commercial activity over the weekend — including canceling thousands of flights — but the storm's economic damage will likely be far less than originally predicted. In particular, New Yorkers, for the most part, feel like they were spared, writes International Business Times.
However, even though New York's mass transit system remained a patchwork at best Monday morning, signs of a return to something resembling normalcy were abundant.
According to edition, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg lifted the city's evacuation order, and the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq OMX Group issued statements saying they planned to be open Monday. The last time U.S. stock markets closed for an entire day was Sept. 27, 1985, after Hurricane Gloria.
In Washington, The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency announced on Sunday that it has begun its damage review of states affected by the hurricane that left at least 11 people dead.
"We are starting assessments in North Carolina," FEMA administrator Craig Fugate told The Associated Press.
International Business Times publishes Public Policy/Economic Analysis: “To be sure, Hurricane Irene in the short term will hurt the U.S. economy. Long-term, however, if past natural disaster rebuilding efforts are any indicator, it will boost GDP, as rebuilding typically leads to an increase in construction employment in zones affected, as well an increase in orders and sales of building materials.
Further, in light of the storm's less severe path — the hurricane made landfall in New Jersey, decreasing its strength substantially — the entire Northeast U.S., and in particular New York City, has to feel like it has been spared: a Category 1 or 2 hurricane could have inflicted catastrophic damage on New York and surrounding areas”, writes the edition.
But on the other hand, Given North Carolina’s extremely diversified economy, an interruption to the tourism season won’t have a huge impact. According to Alaska Dispatch edition, the summer season, which brings in half of the state’s coastal visitors, is already mostly over. And typically, beach rental companies don’t reimburse visitors for days or weeks lost to a hurricane. Instead, the companies recommend that visitors buy travel insurance to protect themselves from loss.
Last year, visitor spending reached a record statewide. In Dare County, which represents the largest share of the Outer Banks and is No. 4 among North Carolina in terms of tourism dollars, tourism accounted for $834 million in economic impact. Still, that's only about 5 percent of the state’s tourism activity.
Residents have been through this before. Hurricanes have threatened and then veered off. The last hurricane to cause significant damage in the region was Isabel in 2003, which hit the southern portion of the island hard, damaging thousands of homes, causing $450 million in losses, and creating a new inlet that cut off the coastal community of Hatteras for two months.
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