A full economic recovery in areas ravaged by Milton and Helene may happen faster than you think

The economic successes of Asheville, North Carolina and Tampa, Florida, have been the envy of many cities across the United States.

The economic successes of Asheville, North Carolina and Tampa, Florida, have been the envy of many cities across the United States. Both metropolitan areas registered an unemployment rate of 3.1% in August, lower than in their respective home states and nationally, according to Labor Department data. New home construction has been booming to keep up with post-Covid population surges. But Hurricanes Helene and Milton threaten to reverse those gains. The disasters decimated homes; filled streets with heaps of debris; left many residents without power and safe drinking water; and forced any number of schools and businesses to temporarily close. Will the economies in hard-hit areas like Asheville and Tampa ever fully recover from the hurricanes? Experiences from past hurricanes may make you more optimistic than you’d expect. Economic activity plunged in the immediate months following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Hurricane Harvey in Houston and Hurricane Irma in Columbia, South Carolina. But within one year after those hurricanes, among the costliest in the US in the last 20 years, economic activity rebounded to levels similar to or greater than before the hurricanes. That’s according to a 2020 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the nonpartisan congressional watchdog. The authors of the report measured economic activity through the labor market, housing market, credit market activity and overall income and output in the major metropolitan areas impacted by the respective hurricanes.