Economic cost of Harvey, Irma could reach $290B

WASHINGTON: The combined economic cost of Hurricanes Harvey US gross domestic product, US forecaster AccuWeather said in a report Sunday.

“We believe the damage esti billion, among the costliest hur CEO and founder Joel Myers.

Harvey, which battered Texas and parts of Louisiana in late August, will be “the costliest weather - lion or one full percentage point of

The report said it arrived at the to business, increased unemploy- of time, damage to transport and infrastructure, crop loss including a 25 percent drop of orange crop, increased costs of fuels including gasoline, heating oil and jet fuel, household damages and loss of valuable documentation.

Only a fraction of the losses would be covered by insurance, said Myers.

Irma struck the Florida Keys archipelago earlier Sunday and is now bearing north, bearing down on the city of Tampa on the west coast of the Florida peninsula.

Harvey made landfall in Texas in late August, causing severe damage to property and paralyzing the country’s fourth-largest city, Hous