Heavy Financial Toll From Blizzard
UPDATED 02/07/11 8:05 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The blizzard of 2011 took a heavy financial toll on the city, to the tune of millions of dollars in lost revenue.
Estimates indicate the two-day toll on crippled business cost the city of Chicago about $120 million. It also cost the six-county metro region as much as $600 million.
The Chicago Sun-Times had retail consultant John Melaniphy crunch the numbers.
Melaniphy said since the day before and the day after the blizzard were bad for business, too, the losses could be a lot higher.
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His figures reflect money that would have been spent at area business like restaurants, drug, grocery and department stores, and furniture and electronics retailers.
Economists say the victims hit hardest were hourly workers, who were forced to give up their pay when their places of employment had to shut down.
There was a flurry of spending the day before the blizzard hit, which softens the blow, at least for some.
The blizzard dumped 20.2 inches on the city on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. It was the third highest snow total for a single blizzard in Chicago history, topped only by snowfalls in 1967 and 1999.
