This article is sponsored by Zurich Insurance and appeared in Bloomberg News. Hurricane Florence’s Hard Rains Offer Hard Lessons in Resilience. It contains some interesting observations, such as:

But not every harsh lesson led to positive change. Hurricanes Floyd, Matthew and Florence all saw documented environmental catastrophes due to waste from coal ash dumps and factory-scale hog farms across North Carolina, but political response and regulatory change and enforcement have been limited. The cost of inaction was laid bare by Florence.

“Business leaders need to underline that avoided losses are benefits,” the Florence PERC report concludes. “Not investing in protection is not free but carries the cost of future losses and missed opportunities.”