It's official: This is the worst
hurricane season in recorded history. According to historian
Eric Gross, "Hurricane Katrina [is] the most expensive natural
disaster in our nation's history, even when damages are
converted to a constant-dollar figure to account for inflation
over time."
Gross says, "It will be the worst hurricane season on record in
terms of destruction of property and economic consequence.
Damages from Dennis, Katrina and Ophelia will almost
certainly top 100 billion dollars. This figure not only exceeds
the previous most costly single hurricane (Andrew, 1992) by
a factor of four, but the most costly season (2004) by a
factor of three. Furthermore, most of this damage is almost
entirely accounted for by Katrina. It is the worst hurricane
season ever in terms of the physical area of the nation
damaged by storms. Again, most of this is due to Katrina,
which inflicted complete structural failure to superficial
exterior damage on structures across an area of some 90,000
square miles. As has often been mentioned on the news, this
is an area approximate in size to Great Britain?a truly
staggering expanse of territory.
"It is the first time in nearly a century?99 years?that a
major America city has been either physically or functionally
destroyed by a disaster (the last being San Francisco in
1906.) No previous hurricane has so crippled a city of
comparable size to New Orleans in U.S. history.
"In terms of lingering economic consequence, this season will
likely be the most significant in U.S. hurricane history. The
disruption of the nation?s oil production, refining and storage
capacity has already had dramatic impact on
oil
prices?which affect every avenue of American commercial
and private life. In addition, Rita could bring significant
damage to our second national center of the oil industry?the
Texas refineries and storage facilities. At this time there is no
clear idea of how long it will take to return the offshore oil
wells and mainland refineries to their former productive
capacity. The impact of this on near-term economic growth,
winter natural gas and heating oil availability and the personal
finances of all Americans is impossible to precisely predict?
but it will certainly be disruptive and painful.
"For Louisiana and Mississippi, the economic fallout of this
season will be devastating and very long-term. New Orleans
is the financial heart of Louisiana; revenues from taxes,
tourism and trade will effectively cease for at least the last
quarter of this year. For Mississippi, the effective destruction
of its entire coastal chain of tourist attractions, hotels and
casinos will lead to high unemployment and a crippling loss of
tax revenues. Both Louisiana and Mississippi [are already]
ranked in the lower tier of states in economic and social
development?No disaster in American history, let alone a
hurricane disaster, has displaced as many Americans from
their homes as Katrina."
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