According to this article in USAtoday, Harvey to be costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, estimated cost of $160 billion. Some excerpts:

Hurricane Harvey could be the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history with a potential price tag of $160 billion, according to a preliminary estimate from private weather firm AccuWeather.

This is equal to the combined cost of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, and represents a 0.8% economic hit to the gross national product, AccuWeather said.

As of the 6pm news today, FEMA Administration, Brock Long, said it may be years before the full cost of the storm is known.  That probably is realistic.  Whether or not the event sets a record, it surely is among the biggest and costliest in history.  The duration of the event probably is going to set a record.

Editorial in the WashPost on August 30: Houston is paying the price for public officials’ ignorance.

Related article from the Atlantic magazine: Why the Gulf Coast Is Uniquely Vulnerable to Disasters. It isn’t just because of the weather, a historian argues.

From the Wall St. Journal: Tropical Storm Harvey Will Cost Tens of Billions of Dollars
Extent of national economic toll depends on how much flooding ensues in the coming days.

From the Guardian, this summary of research on recovery in recent years. Not exhaustive, but reasonably well done. See: Experts say it could take Houston years to fully recover from Harvey.

While it’s too early to compare Houston’s recovery to places like New Orleans or New York, the current state of the city makes the scope of the challenge plain

From the NYTimes, Deluged Texas Braces for More Rain, and Years of Recovery.

As one of the most destructive storms in the nation’s history pummeled southeast Texas for a fourth day, forecasts on Tuesday morning called for still more rain, making clear that catastrophic flooding that had turned neighborhoods into lakes was just the start of a disaster that would take years to overcome.

Local, state and federal officials conceded that the scale of the crisis was so vast that they were nowhere near being able to measure it, much less fully address it.

A personal note:  the Diva has been engaged in studying disaster recovery for almost 40 years and does not recall ever hearing public officials state in week one of a disaster that the recovery process is likely to take years. The FEMA Administrator said it first a few days ago and several other officials have repeated that dire warning. It is important for public agencies and other organizations engaged in response and recovery activities to think through what a long stay in TX will mean and plan accordingly.

From Bloomberg News: Harvey’s Cost Reaches Catastrophic Level.

Hurricane Harvey’s second act across southern Texas is turning into an economic catastrophe — with damages likely to stretch into tens of billions of dollars and an unusually large share of victims lacking adequate insurance, according to early estimates.

Harvey’s cost could mount to $30 billion when including the impact of relentless flooding on the labor force, power grid, transportation and other elements that support the region’s energy sector, Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler with Enki Research, said in an email Monday. That would place it among the top eight hurricanes to ever strike the U.S.

What makes Houston so vulnerable to serious floods?. The size of storm Harvey is unusual – but rapid expansion, poor infrastructure and a distinctive topography have played a role in the devastating impact

From the WashPost this morning: Cost of cleaning up Harvey will bring new test of governance for Trump and GOP.  Some excerpts:

The catastrophic floods brought by Hurricane Harvey to southeastern Texas will pose an immediate test for the White House and Congress, pressing policymakers to approve billions of dollars in recovery funds even though they haven’t agreed on much else this year.

Harvey’s devastation poses President Trump’s first test in emergency assistance, potentially revealing whether he can overcome Congress’s deep divisions over spending and the budget to prioritize aid. It will also test whether Trump can suspend his adversarial governing style and even postpone his own agenda, notably an overhaul of the tax code, to assemble a major — and costly — package that could be directed to law enforcement, emergency relief, schools, infrastructure, hospitals, food banks and several other entities.

A related article from the Huff Post: Hurricane Harvey Should Be A Wake-Up Call To Trump’s Disaster Relief Budget.