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Hurricane Ian volition have a potentially devastating impact on the state's major industries, with the economic toll from the tempest expected to reach tens of billions of dollars.

The country's tourism and hospitality, citrus production. and phosphate mining businesses are likely to confront weeks-long disruptions to their operations, according to experts.

Alive Updates: Ian forecast to become a hurricane over again after vehement through Florida

The storm, which made landfall in Florida Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, is projected to evangelize an $eight billion blow to the tourism sector alone, reflecting most 10% of the country's total tourism revenue. That figure reflects temporary theme park and hotel closures every bit well as reduced tourism. For instance, ahead of the storm Disney appear its theme parks would close for at least ii days and some of its hotels would temporarily shut down.

"With respect to specific industries in Florida, you call up of tourism and hospitality and that'southward likely to take ii levels of hits," Chuck Watson, founder of Enki Research, which uses estimator modeling to calculate the impact of natural disasters, told CBS MoneyWatch. "In that location is the physical damage and the disruption from people cancelling travel plans."

The just silver lining is that it's non peak tourism season, Watson noted.

"At least it is the off-season in betwixt summer when people become to Florida and snowbird flavour, which hasn't quite started still. Information technology's fortunate from that standpoint. They have fourth dimension to rebuild and recover because you get more tourism around Thanksgiving and Christmas," he said.

Watson expects betwixt $60 billion and $70 billion in total economic losses related to Ian, which would rank it among the most destructive storms e'er to hitting the U.S. By comparison, Hurricane Irma in 2017 caused estimated damage of $50 billion, making information technology the most expensive storm in Florida history, according to Reuters. Katrina, which slammed Louisiana and other states in 2005, was the costliest hurricane in U.Due south. history, with estimated losses of at to the lowest degree $125 billion.

Ian is expected to regain strength and get a hurricane again on Th evening. The storm has left Florida and is forecast to hit South Carolina, where a hurricane alert was issued for the entire coast.

"Agriculture, peculiarly orangish groves, could take a big striking since nosotros are right before harvest and it is the worst time to take high winds," Watson said.

Roughly 2-thirds of the country's orangish groves weathered hurricane-force winds.

"It is one affair to lose this year's crop, but if you lot damage the copse that'south a multiyear problem," Watson said.

The storm besides appears to have caused billions of dollars in physical damage to residential and commercial real estate properties. Information technology remains unclear how much it will cost to rebuild structures that are damaged or destroyed given, with longer term expenditures contingent on futurity economic weather.

"In the electric current macroeconomy, things like dwelling values and construction pricing are really in flux. When trying to effigy out the cost of recovery, that'southward frontwards-looking. So you have to take into account interest rates for reconstruction loans and other variables," Watson said.

Oil and gas production unscathed

Oil producers BP and Chevron preemptively halted product at offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico in anticipation of Ian, but the state's oil and gas fields were spared.

"The touch on should exist extremely transitory because the storm didn't get through any of the oil or gas fields," Watson said. "They did precautionary shutdowns, but in a couple days they will be restoring flows. I don't imagine this would be even a blip on the radar as far as actual production nationally," Watson said.

Orlando man paddleboards through flooding from Hurricane Ian 00:21

The bulk of U.S. gas production is located in Texas and Louisiana, while Florida has no refineries, according to Raymond James energy analyst Pavel Molchanov.

"Ian did a lot of harm in the state of Florida, only the oil and gas installations are fashion to the west of the path of Ian specifically," Molchanov told CBS MoneyWatch. "The hurricanes that disrupted the oil and gas manufacture in a serious way made landfall in Texas or Louisiana and caused flooding around refineries."

Job losses

For employees in Florida, damaged or destroyed businesses could hateful significant task losses.

"When we looked at the history of hurricanes and how the economic system was affected, you see a pretty clear pattern of loss of jobs every bit businesses are close down because of the atmospheric condition or considering they've suffered damage from storms," said Sean Snaith, national economist and managing director of Academy of Central Florida's Institute for Economic Forecasting.

Hurricane Ian downgraded to a tropical storm only officials say storm threat remains 04:46

On the flip side, afterwards natural disasters employment in the construction industry tends to spike every bit properties crave rebuilding.

"1 large myth, though, is that somehow it's good for the economic system," Snaith said. "But you lot don't grow your economic system past destroying. All these businesses that were damaged and shut down, all these homes that aren't inhabitable aren't producing any goods and services — they aren't providing any shelter."

"Certainly at that place volition exist a flurry of activity to repair and rebuild," he added. "But in the meantime, those afflicted businesses aren't producing anything."