Hurricane Isaac damage estimates could reach into the billions

Roughly $320 billion: That’s where University of North Texas economist Bernard Weinstein put the economic cost from hurricanes Katrina and Rita in a 2006 report, The Times-Picayune reports. From tattered oil rigs offshore and devastated property along the Gulf Coast, the costs rippled out across the country, even denting monthly U.S. industrial production. No such figure has been estimated for Hurricane Isaac, whose economic toll probably will amount to just a fraction of what befell south Louisiana and the country seven years ago. But economists, experts from the insurance industry and government officials are bracing for costs in the billions of dollars, hoping that the construction work that follows the storm will help offset the economic setback in part. Officials with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry fanned out in small planes Friday to map the effect on cotton and sugarcane crops. Rig operators returned to hundreds of offshore platforms that have been idle for days, probably resulting in a brief but palpable uptick in gas prices in the region. Forecasting companies put sophisticated computer models to work estimating insurance claims. One firm, EQECAT Inc., put insured losses on land at somewhere between $500 million and $1.5 billion, with the total perhaps doubling when offshore assets are included. Some losses might never be fully documented. Read the full story here.