$6B storm? Ike’s impact is felt widely
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and PAUL J. WEBER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESSGALVESTON, Texas - Shrimpers and oystermen are dredging their boats from the muck. Tourist areas on the coast that should be bustling at the start of convention season are flattened. Lingering power outages are keeping offices empty and restaurants closed from Texas through the Midwest.
It will take months or more to tally Hurricane Ike's financial toll, but one thing is clear: Almost nobody in its path escaped unscathed.
"Every industry has been impacted by this storm," said Jeff Sjostrom, president of the Galveston Economic Development Partnership.
The storm carried hurricane-force winds as far north as Kentucky - which suffered its widest power outage in history - and driving rain clear into New England.
Risk Management Assessment Inc., which quantifies risks for insurance companies, estimated Ike's impact would land in the low end of the $6 billion to $16 billion in insured losses that the firm initially predicted.
In Houston, where the booming energy industry has kept the nation's fourth-largest city economically stable in a nationwide slump, the outlook was downright positive. The city's port survived with minimal damage, and the Gulf of Mexico's oil and gas production barely took a dent.
"I'd rather be in Houston right now than Wall Street," said Leo Linbeck III, a Rice University professor.
Ike crashed ashore last weekend near the mouth of Galveston Bay, which produces about 15 million pounds of seafood each year. Shrimpers and oystermen there will practically have to start over. Even those who can salvage their trawlers will have to cope with the carpet of debris Ike dumped on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.
Seafood wholesalers were hit hard, too. Ike destroyed the docks owned by Prestige Oysters Inc., one of the biggest harvesters in the Gulf, and slid its shrimp houses off their slabs. Owner Lisa Halili is wondering what to do with an arriving flock of immigrant fishermen who hold work visas but no longer have jobs.
