In short, no. Via Citi:
Natural disasters often have substantive local impact but less of a national effect. Hurricane Katrina left a devastating wake with an estimated $160 billion cost and a blow to the Bush administration for its seemingly sloppy response while Hurricane Sandy was awful as well (estimated at $75 billion). Harvey has lacked a “storm surge” thereby limiting its damage generation despite the deaths already incurred and the tremendous flooding wreaking havoc in Houston and surrounding areas. The historic rainfall will likely cause a sharp slowdown in regional business trends as people stay home or in shelters rather than go about their normal course of activity, with submerged roads and highways, halted rail and air traffic plus ports being closed down.
The exogenous nature of these storms makes it difficult to calculate in simple economic terms, especially in light of the human toll and regional pain, but the size and breadth of the US economy must be kept in mind. Refining operation shutdowns could cause a near-term upward spike in gasoline prices and even some chemical commodities, but repair/rebuild work should add to future quarters of GDP and thus any lost business in 3Q17 will be made up for in the future. Some industries sadly benefit from these highly disruptive and destructive forces as the reconstruction efforts take place in the months ahead.
