Road and bridge destruction in Virginia, US, caused by Hurricane Helene. (Image: Adobe Stock)

While climate influences on construction are often seasonal/cyclical and well-documented, by the US-based Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) was able to determine that two major storms had an outsized influence on in-country non-residential construction spending this October.

鈥淪ome of October鈥檚 non-residential weakness and residential strength can be attributed to hurricanes Helene and Milton,鈥� said ABC鈥檚 chief economist Anirban Basu, who noted non-residential construction spending dipped 0.4%.

鈥淧rivate non-residential spending decreased 0.3%, while public non-residential construction spending was down 0.5% in October.鈥�

Hurricane Helene was a Category 4 tropical cyclone that made landfall on the continental US on 26 September. It impacted a large swath of the US South from the states of Florida to Georgia and the Carolinas. The storm lingered over the mainland for so long that the most extensive damage took place in North Carolina; one of the storm鈥檚 final destinations. In total, more than 230 people were killed by the hurricane.

Hurricane Milton was a Category 5 (the highest) storm, although it did not cause nearly the loss of life or damage of Helene. Making landfall in the US on 9 October, the two major storms took place less than one month apart. Milton is believed to have caused 35 fatalities.

Risk modeling by Moody鈥檚, the financial services conglomerate, put a combined two-storm total damage estimate of $20 billion to $34 billion.

How Hurricanes Helene and Milton impacted US non-residential construction in October

(Graph courtesy Associated Builders and Contractors)

The expansive zone of destruction caused by Helene followed by Milton just a few weeks later caused immense delays and stalls in non-residential construction across a large section of southeastern America.

As a result, residential construction spending actually saw an increase (and the month saw a rise overall in construction spending), as southern firms raced to assist in home repairs.

鈥淭otal construction rose sharply in October, but that was entirely due to a sharp increase in residential activity,鈥� explained Basu.

Majority of US supports stricter construction standards in extreme weather areas Americans said stricter building standards for new construction were a good idea to resist extreme weather caused by climate change

鈥淭he storms stalled work on several projects in North Carolina and Florida and initiated a massive increase in residential repair work. Construction of new housing units is actually down slightly over the past year, while spending on renovations and repairs is up by a robust 18.5%,鈥� he continued.

But the impacts of these two storms will not continue to hamper the industry.

鈥淭he effects of these storms on construction spending dynamics should largely dissipate by the end of the year,鈥� said Basu. 鈥淕iven that a majority of contractors expect their sales to increase over the next six months, according to , there鈥檚 reason to expect non-residential construction spending to rebound in the coming months.鈥�

With the calendar now in December, the US hurricane season has officially ended, although storms do occasionally materialise in the offseason (from December to May).

(Table courtesy Associated Builders and Contractors)

Hurricane Milton: Work to assess reconstruction cost begins Painstaking work to assess the reconstruction cost in Florida after Hurricane cut a destructive path across the state has begun.