(Image Source: Forbes/Bloomberg)

BY EMILY SPAIN

You're watching multisource U.S. news analysis from Newsy.

Mother nature certainly left her mark when Hurricane Irene barreled up the East Coast.  Now the question is - how will the U.S. economy respond to her destruction?

“Could Irene be a $45 billion storm? One expert says it is possible when you combine the loss of life and business.”

“New Jersey and New York, 2 billion in damage. North Carolina nearly one and a half biillion. In your area area, Virginia, D.C., Maryland, more than a billion dollars in total damages.”
 
With more than one thousand miles of coastline affected by the storm, the total cost for Irene keeps going up. Right now damage estimates total around 7 billion dollars. A Morningstar Analyst on CNBC, says all the repair work could stimulate infrastructure jobs currently on stand-by.

“I think states and cities are looking for large amounts of federal dollars coming in. Maybe they will jump start some of these old aging infrastructure projects they had originally hoping to get money for and actually get things moving.”

Big companies like Home Depot and Lowe’s also saw boosted business thanks to people preparing for Irene.  But 80 percent of retailers are made up of medium and small sized businesses, which a writer for Forbes says can’t easily handle a hurricane’s impact.

“Many small businesses cannot afford to (a) shut down for a day, (b) renovate repairs or (c) pay the deductible on insurance claims. The storm is destructive for many companies and devastating for many more retailers.”

The losses for businesses on the eastern seaboard have many viewing Irene as an economic disaster. Steve Moore explains on Fox News Irene scared too many tourists away.

“Well there’s no question this is a big negative for the economy because think of for example the resort towns this weekend which were deserted. We were actually supposed to go to the beach this weekend and we had to cancel as some many thousands of other people did.”

But there could be a bright side. CNN’s Ali Velshi says Irene could impact gas prices.

“Irene could cause prices to wait for it...Drop. According to the latest Lundberg survey, because folks were hunkered down and flights were canceled, it may have put a big enough dent in demand to cause prices to fall in the next couple of weeks.”

Analysts say the total cost could reach as high as $10 billion. For reference, Hurricane Katrina’s damage reached $106 billion.

 

U.S. News: Opposing Predictions of Hurricane's Economic Impact

Did Hurricane Irene Boost or Beat Up US Economy?

August 29, 2011
(2:23)
The deadly and destructive aftermath of Hurricane Irene has most predicting an economic downturn, while others forecast the opposite.
   
TRANSCRIPT

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