Matthew may cost $10 billion
For a storm that inflicted less damage than many had feared, Hurricane Matthew nevertheless impaired or destroyed more than 1 million structures, forced businesses from Florida to North Carolina to close and put thousands temporarily out of work.
In many affected areas, small-business owners were still assessing the damage.
“I’ve never had anything like this in 12 years of business,” said Ami Zipperer, who has two garden supply stores in the Savannah, Georgia, area.
Zipperer said she doesn’t know how much she’s lost or what insurance will cover. She said about 10 percent of her inventory of plants was damaged, but the bigger challenge will come from losing $5,000 to $7,000 a day in revenue. One store is still closed and many homeowners in the area, Zipperer said, aren’t focused right now on landscaping.
All told, the storm probably caused $10 billion in damage, according to an estimate from Goldman Sachs. Insurance companies will likely be liable for about $4 billion to $6 billion of that total, according to an estimate Saturday by CoreLogic, a real estate data provider.
But the figures suggest Matthew’s effect on the broader national economy will be minimal. Though damage estimates are usually revised higher after more comprehensive assessments, the current figures would still make Matthew the 22nd-worst storm since World War II, Goldman estimates.
By comparison, Hurricane Sandy, the second-worst storm, caused $15 billion to $20 billion in insured losses and $50 billion to $60 billion in overall damage in 2012.
Any economic losses pale in light of the 34 lives lost in the United States. Matthew also killed more than 500 people in impoverished Haiti.
Typically, natural disasters temporarily depress local and regional economic activity as stores and restaurants close and people scale back spending after losing homes, cars or other property. But over the long run, rebuilding in the aftermath of disasters can offset much of the damage, leaving little overall economic impact.
In Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, Clayton Rollins said he doesn’t yet know how severe his losses will be after Hurricane Matthew forced him to shut his restaurant, the Lucky Rooster Kitchen & Bar.
The restaurant absorbed no structural damage, but Rollins estimates he lost $15,000 in food because of the power outage. He also has a wine collection that might have suffered without air conditioning. Losing business over the normally busy Columbus Day weekend was also a blow.
“We count on the weekend to carry us through four or five weeks to Thanksgiving,” he said.
It’s too soon to tell, Rollins said, how much of his loss will be covered by insurance.
Homeowners can expect to shoulder a higher burden of costs from Matthew, because homeowners’ insurance policies trigger their own set of deductibles — the portion that must be covered by the policyholder — when there is wind damage caused by a hurricane.
