Devastating wildfires in Southern California could cause up to $275 billion in damage, analysts say
Financial damage inflicted by disastrous wildfires currently raging in Southern California is expected to range between $250 billion and $275 billion, according to a preliminary assessment by weather data platform AccuWeather.
The estimate accounted for direct costs, including rebuilding, relocation, cleanup, and emergency shelter expenses, while factoring in indirect costs such as healthcare bills for those injured or exposed to smoke, lost wages, and housing displacement for employees, as well as hits to the local labour market, business environment, and tourism sector.
“These fast-moving, wind-driven infernos have created one of the costliest wildfire disasters in modern US history,” AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter said on Monday. Commenting on the preliminary estimate, he stressed that the economic toll of up to $275 billion was “staggering.”
The full extent of damage in some areas is still unknown, according to Porter, who emphasized that some LA residents remain at risk.
“Should a large number of additional structures be burned in the coming days, it may become the worst wildfire in modern California history based on the number of structures burned and economic loss,” he added.
The meteorologist also said that the worst of the fires are burning in an area between Santa Monica and Malibu, hitting some of the most expensive real estate property in the country, with median home values of more than $2 million.
So far, the wildfires that have been sweeping through the Los Angeles area since last week have claimed at least 25 lives, while the flames have scorched over 40,000 acres of land. More than 12,000 buildings have been destroyed, with entire neighborhoods reduced to ruins.
The preliminary figure voiced by AccuWeather significantly exceeds the financial damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, ranked the costliest natural disaster since 1980, which devastated New Orleans in 2005. The tropical cyclone claimed the lives of 1,833 people and inflicted damage equal to $197.5 billion when adjusted for inflation.
