This article was published in Valuation Insights & Perspectives.
Abstract:
Over the years, nature has wrought her fury in various ways and in various parts of the nation, but the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in late August, followed a month later by Hurricane Rita, in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region was unparalleled. Katrina alone made well over 500,000 people homeless, and created a 90,000 square- mile disaster area across three states-Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. According to Robert A. Murray, Chief Economist for McGraw-Hill Construction, "By size and scope, Hurricane Katrina ranks as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history."