Hurricane Irene Could be a Recor Disaster

Hurricane Irene is kind of likely to be the 10th billion-dollar disaster of 2011, breaking 2008's history for number of billion-dollar disasters a year, in accordance with preliminary estimates.

In between the summer floods, tornados, blizzards and drought, 2011 had already a racked up nine natural disasters that cost at least $1 billion each, tying 2008's record. If damage estimates hold, Irene would make 2011 a record-breaker.

Nobody knows what the final toll of Irene is going to be, but estimates were higher as the hurricane churned toward the Carolinas on Friday (Aug. 26) being a Category two storm with winds of up to 105 miles per hour (169 kilometers per hour). By 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday, the National Weather Service reported that winds were picking up speed along the North Carolina coast. Hurricane-force winds are anticipated in that location overnight Friday, with hurricane conditions arriving along the mid-Atlantic coast by Saturday afternoon.

The news firm Bloomberg reported Thursday (Aug. 25) that risk assessor Kinetic Analysis Corp. had estimated that Irene could possibly cause $13.9 billion in insured losses and $20 billion in total economic losses when factors such as lost work hours and disruption of transport are factored in.