Climate change is likely to exact enormous costs on US regional economies in the form of lost property, reduced industrial output, and more deaths, according to a report backed by a trio of men with vast business experience.

In the Keys island chain, where Wilma’s storm surge caused extensive flooding, plans were announced to welcome tourists beginning today, as power was restored to nearly half the South Florida homes and businesses that lost it during Hurricane Wilma.

ACCORDING to officials production of petrol in the US has fallen to a tenth of its usual rate following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, prompting the price of crude oil to soar on the international market as the US government prepares to dip into its strategic reserves (normally only used in times of war) to ease the crisis.