Report: East Coast Blizzard to Cause Multi-Billion Dollar Economic Losses

January 25, 2016

Massive blizzards that paralyzed much of the U.S. East Coast in the past few days are likely to cause “multi-billion” dollar economic losses in one of the worst storms in the region in over a century, reinsurance broker Aon Benfield said on Monday.

The monster weather system unofficially dubbed Winter Storm Jonas left at least 20 dead in several states, with most of the fatalities the result of traffic accidents.

“Given the physical damage to homes, businesses and other structures and automobiles, plus the high costs incurred due to business interruption, it is expected that this will end up being a multi-billion-dollar economic cost,” Aon Benfield said in a note.

The storm would likely be rated as one of the top 15 winter storms in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic since 1900, it added.

It was too soon to calculate insured losses, Aon Benfield said, adding a similar storm system in January 1996 caused an estimated economic loss of $4.6 billion and insured loss of $920 million in current dollar terms.

Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Mark Potter

Topics Profit Loss

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Latest Comments

  • January 27, 2016 at 12:26 pm
    Yogi Polar Berra says:
    It's obvious some people do not understand the term 'long term trend', and do not know how to properly designate 'starting points' from which to measure trends. Unfortunately... read more
  • January 25, 2016 at 9:11 pm
    UW says:
    Is the "equater" a person who equates things that don't make sense? Like it snowed in the northeast of the US, so obviously the world is cooling, even though 2015 was the warm... read more
  • January 25, 2016 at 2:15 pm
    Agent says:
    Global Cooling is well underway in the frozen tundra of the N/E. I am sure there will be some idiot that will post that it is hotter at the equater.

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