Economic damage from Ike may be less than feared

AP Associated Press:

By DAVID KOENIG and ELLEN SIMON – 33 minutes ago

"DALLAS (AP) — Because of where a weaker-than-expected Hurricane Ike landed, first impressions on Saturday were that the economic damage may not be as devastating as feared.

"If the eye of that storm had been as much as 20 miles east, we would have a lot more havoc and damage than we did," said Chris Johnson, a senior vice president at commercial property insurer FM Global.

The eye of the hurricane missed the center of Houston, as well as the largest concentrations of oil and gas refineries, Johnson said. The storm surge and rainfall in Galveston, Texas, were also weaker than predicted." More>>>>