NE Hurricane Could Cripple Economy ($200 billion, forecasters worried)

[Herman Munster]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/30/eveningnews/main1847562.shtml

A direct hit on New York's Long Island by a Category 3 or higher hurricane would cost $100 billion. But the same size storm spinning into central New Jersey would be catastrophic — raking New York and points north with its strongest winds. The result: $200 billion in damages and lost business.
"And much of that disruption will not be covered by insurance," Clark said.

Economic losses would be twice that of the 9-11 attacks, and three times larger than Hurricane Katrina. When it comes to a northeast hurricane, experts say forget what you know. They're much bigger than their southern cousins. "A Category 3 storm could do a surge of more like a Category 4 or 5," said Phil Klotzbach, a meteorologist at Colorado State University. "So you could see 20 to 25 feet of water."

A major northeast hurricane is nearly three times more likely this year thanks to favorable weather conditions, including the position of the Bermuda High. Last year it pushed storms southwest. Now it's set to steer hurricanes up the East Coast. "Northern hurricanes move two to three times faster than southern hurricanes, so they're gonna be here much sooner," Coastal Geologist Nicholas Coch told Miller. "So a hurricane that is off the coast of Charleston will be here in eight hours. That fast."

[Cha]

1. If it does come up to New York

and New Jersey, hopefully they will have time to batten down the hatches and save some lives and property.

[pitohui]

7. how could you evacuate?

i'm terrified for coastal new jersey, the density of the population there is amazing

where we'd have holly beach and 500 people to evacuate, or grand isle and a couple thousand, you'd have -- what -- hundreds of thousands?

and i can't even picture manhattan, only been to new york state, but i know it's just skycrapers and skyscrapers full of probably millions of people, many who don't own a vehicle to evacuate any distance

i don't even know how you could evacuate a population as dense as manhattan, people die evacuating houston

we are just going to have to find some way to turn these storms aside, this just can't be tolerated in the modern world, it just can't

if what happened here in new orleans and on the gulf coast happened to nyc, i think it would cause a world-wide depression not to mention untold loss of life

it's really scary to even think about

i know the science says that we are centuries away from even having a clue of how to turn these storms but, honestly, we've got to start doing some serious research, because some things cannot be allowed to happen

[Codeblue]

8. I understand

I understand your concern. However, I think dedicating research to interfere with nature is a bad idea. Nature will always find a way, as she is doing right now, to either repay us ten-fold for all the shit we've done to her or escape our pathetic attempts to control her.

As far as I can see, all of our attempts to control nature throughout time have been completely futile and have really made things even worse for us than they were. It's our fault all those skyscrapers full of millions of people are standing there potentially in the path of a hurricane. Nature is just doing what she has done for millennia. It's the rest of us who are fucking shit up.

[Bobbieo]

2. I still remember the hurricane in September of 1938 that hit New York

I was a junior in high school. It got all the way up to my hometown of Massena, New York

[morningglory]

3. Shithead has crippled our economy. By summer's end, it should be a

running disaster, good time to blame it on a hurricane, or Clinton.

[Bobbieo]

4. You forgot the earthquake that is coming in L.A.

[morningglory]

5. Lawd, hep us! I am afraid!

[Blackhatjack]

6. And FEMA is no more ready today than before Katrina in N.O.....

We have extensive real estate development on the outer banks of North Carolina, and on our beaches. A direct hit on North Carolina could generate billions in damage before the hurricane moves up the east coast and hits NJ and NY.

There really is no way to gauge the maximum amount of damage that one Hurricane could wreak if it followed this path.

And while Insurance companies have been collecting inflated premiums for decades in case of a catastrophic hurricane, most of these companies have obtained protection from legislatures and Congress that significantly lessen their obligations to pay claims for this kind of damage, or they have decided not to write policies any more, leaving the homeowners in the lurch.