Hurricane Milton monster path through heavily-populated areas of Florida could cause as much as $245 billion in damages – which would make it the costliest storm in US history, analysts said on Wednesday.

The Category 4 hurricane – the strongest storm in the Gulf of Mexico since 2005 – is expected to make landfall along south of the Tampa area late Wednesday night. 

The west coast region is home to more than 3 million people and Tampa has avoided a direct hit from a major hurricane for more than 100 years.

“While too early to make insured loss estimates, a major hurricane impact in one of Florida’s most heavily populated regions could result in mid-double-digit billion dollar loss,” Jefferies equity analyst Yaron Kinar and others said in a note. 

The devastating storm could cause $245 billion in total property damages in the Tampa Bay and Fort Myers regions, according to the Jefferies analysts.

“A 1-in-100 year event is estimated by some to result in $175 [billion] in losses for landfall in the Tampa region, and $70 [billion] in losses in the [Fort] Myers region,” the analyst wrote.

Just two years ago, Hurricane Ian made landfall near Fort Myers as a Category 4 storm and caused more than $50 billion in losses. Ian was considered a 1-in-20 year storm.

Hurricane Katrina – which broke the levees protecting New Orleans and wreaked catastrophic destruction across the Gulf Coast in 2005 – is currently the costliest hurricane in US history at $192.5 billion in damages, according to The Weather Channel.

Floridians have boarded up their house windows and fled the state as officials warn that residents who stay behind to ride out the storm are signing their own death certificates. 

“Individuals that are in these, say you’re in a single-story home … 2 feet is above that house,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said Tuesday night. “So, if you’re in it, you know, basically that’s the coffin you’re in.”

Meanwhile, government agencies are running out of disaster funds after putting their resources toward damages caused by Hurricane Helene across Southeastern states last week.

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Helene likely caused at least $35 billion in economic losses, according to an estimate by reinsurance broker Gallagher Re.

Small Business Administration officials warned the agency has less than $100 million for new disaster loans and would “very soon” run through its funding. 

“Our ability to fully support all of our disasters is going to be diminished, and that includes Milton,” Isabel Guzman, the agency’s administrator, told The New York Times on Tuesday night.

The agency – which focuses on small businesses but helps entire communities recover post-disaster – said it would continue to process incoming loan applications, but Congress will have to approve additional funding before it can make new loan offers.

Congress is not set to reconvene until Nov. 12.

A surge of climate-related superstorms in the US has prodded insurance companies to hike their rates, according to a report in The New York Times.

Rate increases have been particularly quick in coastal cities and areas susceptible to flooding and other damages.

The insurance brokerage Marsh McLennan estimated that premiums on commercial properties rose an average of 11% across the country last year – and up to 50% in vulnerable areas like the Gulf Coast.

Premiums may have doubled in some of these storm-ridden areas, the brokerage said.

Insurance costs now account for 8% of apartment buildings’ operating expenses – twice what they did five years ago, Paul Fiorilla, director of research at data provider Yardi Matrix, told The New York Times.