Irene Adds to the Misery and Growing National Expense

HURRICANE IRENE EXPECTED TO MAKE 2011 RECORD YEAR FOR DISASTERS:

Hurricane Irene is expected to make 2011 a record year for billion-dollar natural disasters as the 10th one of the year so far, breaking the record set in 2008. News agency Bloomberg has cited risk assessor Kinetic Analysis as estimating that Irene may cause $13.9 billion in insured losses and $20 billion in total economic losses. The other nine disasters with losses topping $1 billion this year include: upper Midwest and Mississippi River flooding, drought, heat wave and wildfires in the Southern Plains and Southwest, tornadoes in April and May, including the Joplin twister, and the February "Ground Hog Day Blizzard."