Hurricane Matthew expected to be most costly storm yet

The first outer bands of rain from Hurricane Matthew pass through downtown Orlando, Fla., Thursday evening, Oct. 6, 2016. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)
The first outer bands of rain from Hurricane Matthew pass through downtown Orlando, Fla., Thursday evening, Oct. 6, 2016. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS)

Hurricane Matthew is estimated to cause $269 billion in damages — the most expensive hurricane in U.S. history — said professor of business and economic research Michael Hicks.

"This [hurricane] will cause significant damage, and holds the potential to be the mostly costly hurricane in U.S. history," Hicks said in a press release. "It is almost certain that property damages to the coast of Florida will exceed that of Hurricane Katrina, which we estimated in 2005 to be roughly $156 billion, which is roughly $190 billion in 2016 dollars."

Hicks said the affected coastal counties alone are home to 6.5 million persons, compared to the 4.5 million impacted by Katrina. Hicks also said there are a million more housing units and roughly 50,000 more businesses in the coastal areas predicted to be impacted by Hurricane Matthew than were affected by Hurricane Katrina.

On Oct. 6, Indiana Governor Mike Pence announced that two teams based in Indiana are being deployed to Florida to support activities in response to Hurricane Matthew. The Indiana Department of Homeland Security is deploying a six-person emergency operations center team to Tallahassee, and Indiana Task Force 1, a federal resource comprised of central Indiana emergency responders, will also be sending seven members to Marietta, Georgia, and the National Response Coordination Center in Washington, D.C.

The National Weather Service reports Hurricane Matthew is a Category 4 storm with the potential to advance to a Category 5 and is expected to hit the coast through Friday morning.

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