Costs of Ivan...and the 2004 hurricane season

[PTPatrick]

Anybody got cost estimates on Ivan yet? I am sure after Ivan this will be the most costly hurricane season(each storm combined) on record...any ideas on total numbers for the season so far?

[Innotech]

I certainly would agree its one of, if not THE costliest. andrew may have been extremely intense, but it was small, and confined to relatively sparsely populated areas, as opposed to the cluttered northern Gulf coast.
Also factor in the flooding damages that will probably not be added officially and youve got an extreme amount of total damages wrought by IVan, not to mention the previously almost unheard of storm surge destruction.

[Stormchaser16]

At what point after landfall do they decide to stop adding damage costs to the official total? Ivan cost likely millions of dollars worth of damage well inland, when do they stop adding those costs in officially?

[AussieMark]

Charlie along is $6.8 Billion insured

then I have read sources of Frances being $1 Billion insured minimum

and reports of Ivan

is $4 Billion - $10 Billion

this year will be $11 Billion minimum

[Derek Ortt]

all inland damages are included. Thats how Agnes and Allison are two of the most destructive cyclones in history

[Stormchaser16]

Thats what i thought, but when i read Innotech's post, i was like hmmmmmmm at what point then do they stop, but i thought that if it was from the system itself, that it must be included. Thanks

[Derek Ortt]

from what I've heard

charley is 6-8 bil
frances is 2-4 bil
ivan is 2-10 bil (probably will end up being 3-5 from what i've seen as the damage was confined mainly to the coast, though there was heavy damage to pensacola as well)

this doesnt include the damage caused by alex, bonnie, gaston, and jeanne

This being said, the actual damage is typically multiplied by a factor of 2 to determine the actual damage. This means, we have had 3 of the top 5 most destructive storms this year (2 in Charley, and ivan and frances may both have passed hugo)

What has happened is that this season has passed 1992 when we had a cat 3, a cat 4, and a cat 5 hit the USA in terms of dollar damage

[Matthew5]

Derek how much do you think this season has costed?

[ladygatorslayer]

This is the first article I have ever seen that gives an amount for uninsured losses. Kinda startling, considering we only ever hear about the insured losses.

"As Hurricane Ivan roared into Florida's Panhandle and neighboring states Thursday, the economic tally for recently departed Hurricane Frances became clearer.

With 90 percent of Florida's 67 counties affected by Frances in some adverse way, it wasn't a pretty picture.

Wachovia Corp. senior economist Mark Vitner, a longtime Florida watcher, estimated the Labor Day weekend storm caused $13.25-billion in damage statewide, including $5-billion in insured damage and $8.25-billion in uninsured damage.

By comparison, he said, Hurricane Charley three weeks earlier caused about $17.25-billion in damage, including $7.4-billion in insured losses and $9.85-billion in uninsured losses."

In a 22-page analysis, Vitner laid out numerous ways Frances differed from Charley.

Damage to agriculture was much more extensive with Frances, a weaker but significantly bigger storm, particularly to citrus, ornamental plants, fishing and dairy industries. While wind damage was less severe than Charley, flooding damage was far more extensive - "among the worst in Florida's modern era," Vitner wrote.

He estimated that insurance will only cover about 41 percent of the damage from Charley and Frances, with the federal government covering an additional 14 percent. That leaves homeowners, private businesses and local governments on the hook for about 45 percent of the $30-billion bill"

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/09/17/B...unts_for_.shtml

[tronbunny]

I heard a Valencia Community College Economics professor on Fox News this am.
He said it was his view that the federal govt. and US taxpayers had no business bailing out Floridians for losses due to the hurricanes.
The reporter asked if anyone should be compensated for losses due to any natural disasters.
He replied that relief was the responsibility of charitable organizations...
(I'll leave this just as a statement of fact, that I saw this guy on TV and what HIS views were- the rest I'd put over in the Storm2K political forum)