Superstorm Sandy may cause upwards of $20 billion in damages, the forecasting firm HIS Global Insight is reporting. In addition, its ripple effects could lead to between $10 billion and $30 billion in lost business. In the short term, Sandy could lead to a 0.6 percentage point subtraction from U.S. economic growth in the October-December quarter. In the end, Sandy is expected to rank among the 10 costliest hurricanes in U.S. history, though it won’t reach the $108 billion toll of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
