NEW YORK — The economic impact of Hurricane Irene largely will depend on factors that include the storm’s size, where it makes landfall and the speed at which it’s moving when it hits the coast. But experts already are forecasting billions of dollars in losses.
“It’s probably going to be very damaging,” said Roger Pielke, a University of Colorado professor and fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.
A computer model of Irene’s potential impact puts the estimated damage at $4.7 billion, according to research by Pielke and catastrophe-insurance provider ICAT. That figure, which came from analyzing 27 comparable storms dating to 1913, includes destruction of homes, cars, public infrastructure and other property caused by high winds and flooding.
The number doesn’t factor in the added impact of lost sales from shuttered restaurants, quiet casinos, canceled flights and boarded-up stores — all of which could add billions of dollars to the fallout.
Denver Post staff and wire reports
