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Early this week the East Coast of the U.S. was hit by an extremely strong hurricane. The population was warned, but even authorities were shocked by the severity of wind gusts, rainfalls and floods. In some areas, it will take days for ground transportation and electricity distribution to resume properly. The damages are terrible, with many lives taken. The cost estimate is of between USD 30 bn and USD 40 bn. Part of it will be covered by the federal government, as President Obama declares major disaster declarations for 10 States and the District of Columbia.
As for the consequences to the U.S. economy, they are very likely not to be noticeable in national data beyond some noise in October and November. Part of the country stopped working for a few days, but they will catch up, and beyond some expenses that will never happen (the coffee at the train station), GDP should not be affected: October data may be down because of Sandy, but November will be up and Q4 will be left unchanged. USD 40 bn is a lot of money, but just 0.2% of the U.S. GDP. Since reconstruction spending are spread over a few quarters, it will be impossible to trace them in national figures.
BY Alexandra ESTIOT