This is what happened during Katrina and some of the hurricanes of the past decade or two. The situation with the banks is slightly different. The odds that t

This is what happened during Katrina and some of the hurricanes of the past decade or two. The situation with the banks is slightly different. The odds that the product, money, will cost more for them in the future does not line up with the recent history of bailouts, regulation changes, etc. During Katrina, for example, it was a safe bet for the gas station owners that the next batch of gasoline could cost significantly more. A reasonable assumption due to the multiple wars in the middle east combined with a bad hurricane season shutting down gulf coast refineries. In other words, the Federal Reserve did not run a discount window to provide cheap oil to gas stations. Even the strategic petroleum reserve, if tapped, would only benefit the refineries. At any rate, one could argue that in both situations the entities involved made the safest and most profitable decision available to them.