The economic cost of Hurricane Harvey, which is now a tropical storm dumping rain on the Houston area, will likely be in the tens of billions, according to experts.
The Wall Street Journal examined the damage the storm has left thus far and concludes the end result will be a significant hit to the local, state, and even national economies.
"The damage will likely be much higher than most recent hurricanes have been," Adam Kamins, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics, told the Journal. There are "very high levels of housing density where some of the most severe flooding is taking place. Because of that you have very high expected property and vehicle damage."
Kamins noted the storm could lead to somewhere around $30 billion and $40 billion in property damage.
At the state and national levels, gas prices could be impacted because Houston area oil refineries — which account for 10 percent of the country's oil refining system — are offline. There is no word when they will resume gasoline production.
More than three million people work in Houston and its surrounding area. Many of them are not working at the moment because of the storm, including hourly employees who only get paid when they work.
The storm is lingering over the area and has dumped anywhere between 20 and 40 inches of rain, which has led to massive flooding. At least three deaths have been attributed to it, with more expected to be confirmed.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is among the thousands of people stranded in their homes because of floodwaters.
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