14 DAY TRIAL // Business weather intelligence company Planalytics estimates that the record freeze that hit the United States comes with an impressive price tag of $5 billion (€3.67 billion).
Evan Gold, the company's current senior vice president, explains that this is because, thanks to the cold snap, millions of Americans found themselves forced to remain indoors instead of going to work, traveling or doing some shopping.
Airlines were badly hit by the record freeze, meaning that nearly 2,400 flights have thus far been canceled and over 2,900 have been delayed. Restaurants and auto-dealers did not exactly have the time of their life either.
On the other hand, the demand for natural gas and heating bills both upped as a result of the cold snap.
“We think that the problem will be short-lived, but we estimate it will cost about $5 billion because of the sheer size of the population affected,” Evan Gold said in a statement, as cited by RT.
Researchers working with Planalytics estimate that roughly 200 million people living in the country's eastern regions had their daily routine greatly disrupted by the cold spell.