What If Gasoline Costs $20 a Gallon?
The true cost of cleaning up natural disasters.
The total damage across all nations from Hurricane Fiona is estimated to be $11 billion. The storm kept its intensity all the way up to Nova Scotia, Canada — a feat seldom accomplished since the water is usually too cold.
Hurricane Ian will undoubtedly leave an even higher price tag. The ever-increasing clean-up costs from these storms have caused many insurance companies to leave Florida. The exodus of these firms was so great that the State had to create Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, a taxpayer-backed insurance program. There is little doubt that this ill-conceived plan will cost Florida residents a substantial amount of money as it isn’t likely that a bunch of bureaucrats will figure out how to turn a profit.
The list of natural disasters is endless. Forest fires, huge rain storms, tornadoes, and drought spare no part of the globe. Places will become vacant long before rising sea levels force people out. The cost of continually rebuilding storm-prone locations is unsustainable and extremely costly. The fact that insurers have left Florida is the first sign of this coming dilemma. Storms are causing us to rebuild entire cities each year.
