An AccuWeather estimate of total damage and economic loss for Hurricane Henri is $8-12 billion, according a its release Saturday afternoon.
AccuWeather's estimate is based on an analysis incorporating independent methods to evaluate all direct and indirect impacts of the storm and is based on a variety of sources, statistics, and unique techniques AccuWeather uses to estimate the damage.
AccuWeather's estimate includes damage to homes, and businesses as well as their contents and cars, job and wage losses, infrastructure damage, auxiliary business losses, travel disruption, medical expenses and closures.
The estimate also accounts for the costs of power outages to homes and businesses and for economic losses due to road closures and evacuations, emergency management and the extraordinary government expenses for cleanup operations.
Henri was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane Saturday with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. Forecasts have Henri slowly strengthening through Saturday night as it moves over the warm, Gulf Stream waters.
Henri will encounter cooler water before making landfall and might begin to lose some intensity Sunday.
If Henri makes landfall over Long Island during the late morning or early afternoon Sunday, and the proximity to high tide will make coastal flooding an issue in low lying areas from Long Island to Connecticut.
A Rhode Island landfall would be later Sunday afternoon and be less likely to flood closer to low tide, according to AccuWeather.
The northwest quadrant of the storm in New England will get the heaviest rains. The strongest winds will come around the eye of the storm and to the east of landfall.
Henri is expected to lose tropical characteristics by Monday night with heavy rainfall and some gusty winds for parts of central and northern New England, according to the latest forecasts.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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