Sandy Likely to Cost More Than Hurricane Irene

It looks like superstorm Sandy is going to trump last year's Hurricane Irene in terms of damage costs, reports Reuters. The upper end of estimates is about $20 billion, while Irene came in under $16 billion, notes the Christian Science Monitor. "Sandy event is much more severe," explains RMS, which calculates damage for the insurance industry. It "has impacted NYC to a much worse degree than Irene." A Bloomberg report contends that the total might exceed $20 billion.

Insured losses figure to be anywhere from $5 billion to $8 billion, with cities and states picking up much of the rest in infrastructure repairs. When all is said and done, Sandy is likely to end up somewhere around the fifth costliest hurricane in history. One company not complaining: Netflix. Streaming was up 20% Sunday and Monday, with most of the surge coming from customers in New York, Boston, Baltimore, and DC, reports the Los Angeles Times. (More Hurricane Sandy stories.)