As millions of people up and down the east coast clean up the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, the storm may also be felt in your wallet. YNN's Chris Whalen tells us how the historic storm could impact the local and national economy.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

BROOME COUNTY, N.Y. --Tourists snapping photos is a common site in New York City, but the images from Manhattan earlier this week were anything but.

"We went up to our roof last night, around eight or nine and we just saw waves going down Water Street," said one New York City resident.

When the water receded, rubble and debris littered the streets. Similar scenes all over the East Coast where Sandy left her mark. Early estimates indicate damage will range between $10 and$ 20 billion.

Billions of dollars in damage means billions of dollars in repair, a horrible formula for economic growth. Something Broome County experienced a year ago following Tropical Storm Lee.

"We did see a very large spike in our sales tax in our fourth quarter of last year and our first quarter of 2012 and a lot of that is flood related," said Broome County Budget Director Marie Kalka.

Also in Sandy's aftermath, fluctuation in gas prices. In New York City and its surrounding areas, the shutdown of mass transit could result in cost increasing.

"You're going to see a short demand for gas to go up, because people are off the buses and trains and back in to their cars," said Richard Jacobs, president of AAA of Southern New York.

At a time when fuel costs traditionally begin to go down, prices in our area are likely to go up for a period as well.

"Maybe some short term interruptions in supply. There are about six refineries in that general area, two have shut down temporarily," Jacobs said.

The good news is, the other four are still up and running. AAA says prices at the pump will likely go back to normal when winter comes.