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Matthew: Rising waters, and costs

Insurer estimates damages up to $9 billion.

Sandy (which forever will have an asterisk) aside, Matthew has become by far the most damaging Atlantic tropical storm in over a decade.

The insurance firm AIR estimates that it could cost up to $8.8 billion in damages, not including disaster assistance and flood-insurance payments.

Conservatively, the government expenses should add an additional $2 or $3 billion to the tally.

That's impressive, and Matthew almost certainly will enter the hurricane hall of fame and have its name retired at the end of the season.

It killed hundreds in Haiti, and the U.S. death toll continues to rise, along with the Carolina flood

But in terms of "normalized" damages – what hurricanes would cost at today's level of building and population, and inflation adjusted – Matthew's cost would be a fraction of the top 5's.

According to insurance underwriter  ICAT, No. 1 on the list would be the unnamed  1926 hurricane that made a dead-on hit on Miami, at $231.1 billion.

The two Galveston storms are Nos. 2 and 3; 1900, $142.4 billion, 1915, $103.4. Katrina places fourth, $91.2 billion.

Sandy, which technically was not a hurricane when it made landfall in New Jersey, is No. 8, $54.7 million.