Florida Faces Billion Dollar Damages From New Hurricane

Facebook Tweet LinkedIn

Just days after Hurricane Helene hammered the region, the Tampa Bay area faces what could become a Category 2 hurricane. It will dump as much as a foot of rain on a place that is still partially flooded, adding billions of dollars in damages to those from earlier in the week.

*More Florida Hurricane News

*Tampa’s Growing Problem

*The Real Problem Is Rain

According to Accuweather, the storm will hit early in the week. “People in cities that are still reeling from the record storm surge produced by Hurricane Helene will once again face a significant risk for storm surge flooding and coastal inundation, flooding rainfall, damaging wind gusts and lengthy power outages,” said AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham. “The potential for rapid intensification is certainly a risk that AccuWeather meteorologists are monitoring very closely.”

The storm will likely cross Florida near Orlando and exit into the Atlantic, close to Jacksonville.

$250 Billion In Damages

AccuWeather’s estimates for Helene’s damages were as high as $250 billion over a much wider geographical area.

This year’s Atlantic hurricane season was expected to be particularly violent because of warm water in the Atlantic. Except for Category 5 hurricane Beryl, the season has been quiet until recently. Back-to-back hurricanes across the same area are rare.

Much of Tampa was flooded, and hundreds of residences were destroyed while thousands were badly damaged. With so much flooding still in place, the results of the new storm could be catastrophic.