17704. The Cost and Economic Impact of Hurricanes Katrina & Rita. This paper provides an overview and analysis of the likely cost and economic impact of the hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast in August and September of 2005. The investigation considers both the costs and economic impact within regions directly affected by the storms as well as the potential national and international impact of the disaster. The paper begins with a discussion of the controversy over the early estimates on Katrina’s costs and a brief overview of the difficulties in estimating costs and/or economic impact in the period immediately following a disaster. KEYWORDS: disaster hurricane storm economic impact cost energy prices. APA Style. 13 pages, 56 footnotes, 33 bibliographic sources. 3,069 words.