As rain finally wipes out devastating wildfires in Southern California, Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter reveals AccuWeather's estimate of the total damage and economic loss to be $250 billion to $275 billion.

Los Angeles

More than a thousand structures have been destroyed and lives lost as wildfires sweep across parts of Los Angeles.

LA Wildfires

AccuWeather has reported an estimate of $250 to $275 billion in total damage and economic loss resulting from recent wildfires in Southern California, an amount representing approximately 7% of California’s gross domestic product. The wildfires, characterized by fast and wind-driven spread, have significantly affected many lives and altered landscapes, leading to this massive economic impact. In comparison to other natural disasters, such as Hurricane Helene and the Maui fires, the financial implications of these wildfires are notably higher. While other organizations have projected lower damage estimates—such as $20 to $40 billion by entities like Moody's and Goldman Sachs—AccuWeather argues that these figures fail to account for long-term effects such as job losses, potential business closures, health impacts due to pollution, and wider economic repercussions. The report emphasizes the expectation of adverse health outcomes in the years following the fires due to harmful exposure to pollutants released during the wildfires.



AccuWeather estimates up to $275B in damage from LA wildfires

When you and I spoke with Ken yesterday, and we were talking about this, it was such a telling statement Ken making that everything is now over with that fire danger and the fires that actually have been burned, but boy, the damage has been substantial. It's been staggering, and we're talking about people's lives that have been changed forever in the matter of a couple of minutes with these fast-moving and wind-driven infernos. AccuWeather estimates $250 to $275 billion in total damage and economic loss. To put that number into perspective, that $275 billion, that would be 7% of the gross domestic product of California. So you could see the big impact to the economy that such a large number can have. You know, when you look at other disasters, the one disaster that compares to at least the number there is Hurricane Helene, which occurred late last year. It does. It shows that it's on the same sort of order of magnitude, a little bit higher in total damage and economic loss. You can see the Maui fires, $13 to $16 billion, so far less, obviously, great impact in Hawaii, but from a total economic loss and damage perspective, far less. And then almost the amount for the entire U.S. wildfire season, a very active year from 2018, in just a couple of weeks with those fires occurring in a densely populated area. You know, John, there's a lot of other organizations also putting out numbers, but we think that our number is likely, is more accurate given when you take everything into account. But I did want to show you some other sources, John. Yeah, here's some other numbers that are out there. And you notice that the estimates from Moody's, $20 to $30 billion, JPMorgan, $20 billion, $40 billion from Goldman Sachs as an example. But notice the summary of these. Most of these include just insured damages, direct impacts from the fires. They don't consider the holistic approach that AccuWeather does, and these numbers grossly underestimate the long-term damage to the economy and the financial challenges that people, businesses, communities are going to face. In many cases, these are underestimated and or they're not inclusive of all those factors. They're just the direct impacts in a lot of cases. And that really does not show the more holistic picture that only AccuWeather provides. And also, our number also includes long-term effects, correct, John? That's a big factor here, because think about this. Not only long-term effects on tourism, but job losses. Some businesses may fail. And also the long-term health impacts. Consider the 18 million people live within the Los Angeles metro area. Many people were exposed to dangerous pollution in the air, not only from the wildfire smoke, but asbestos and other dangerous materials that were in the burned buildings. All that was lofted into the air. So just like a hurricane, we're unfortunately expecting to see hundreds, perhaps thousands, of excess deaths and serious illness in the years and even decade following the fires because of all that pollution. So the long-term health impacts and long-term impacts to the economy are very substantial and why that number is the most holistic view of just how challenging it's going to be for people in California. AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter. John, thanks for breaking it down and explaining it to our viewers.

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LA Wildfires