  Tropical cyclones have always been a concern for public authorities in the
U.S., with a season lasting nearly half of the year. Using longitudinal data on
economic growth and exposure to tropical cyclones, we provide new comprehensive
analyses of these disasters' growth impact in U.S. states and counties. While
we find that results remain insignificant with country-wide samples, this study
shows that the effects can be, instead, significant at regional level. In fact,
a specific analysis of Florida State stresses significant short-term negative
effects, both at county and state levels. At this stage, this study calls for
an in-depth investigation of the underlying mechanisms leading to such growth
depletion but already pins down the important heterogeneity in the effects of a
catastrophe on growth patterns within a country.
