re: Are natural disasters good for the economy?

As mentioned previously, it will encourage money being moved from one person to another, and that can create both business and economic activity at levels elevated for certain people.

In the long run, though, its just re-establishing the stable base of property and capital investment that existed before the flood-- the window owner lost the value of the window to his structure, when the window broke-- replacing it doesn't make it more valuable.

And, in the longer run, those assets allocated to rebuild would have been allocated for other uses, instead of sunk into rebuilding.

In the end, its a net negative that keeps hands busy in the short and intermediate term.