Not to downgrade the cost to residents of the Northeast of the storm this week, but to put it in historical perspective, look at this chart of the cost of damage from other storms of the past century or so.

Costs are adjusted for inflation (considerable), but note that Sandy at $20 billion doesn't even make the top ten list!

Most of us remember Katrina, and maybe a few Donna. The others kind of fade from memory as time passes but were real disasters when they happened. And remember, Uncle Sam didn't used to use taxpayer money to help recovery from natural disasters until 50-60 years ago.