AccuWeather increases economic loss estimate of Hawaii wildfires to $14 billion to $16 billion
Harrowing images continue to emerge from Maui, particularly the hard-hit city of Lahaina, and the additional scope of the damage unveiled led to the update.
As the grim picture of impacts to Hawaii becomes clearer, AccuWeather experts are now estimating between $14 and $16 billion in total damage and economic loss.
AccuWeather increased its estimate of the total damage and economic loss from the devastating wildfires in Hawaii to $14 billion to $16 billion, reflecting additional damage reports received from Hawaii in recent days.
Wildfires have decimated parts of the state since last week. In Maui, the Lahaina fire has become the deadliest wildfire in modern history — surpassing California’s Camp Fire in 2018 — and pictures circulating online showed the extent of the devastation. Monday’s update follows AccuWeather’s preliminary estimate last week of $8-10 billion in losses.
“AccuWeather’s preliminary forecast for total damage and economic loss from the wildfires in Hawaii was issued on Thursday before any other sources issued any quantitative information describing economic impact,” said Jonathan Porter, AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist. “AccuWeather experts have continually monitored reports from Hawaii from a variety of sources and, unfortunately, upon surveying the latest damage reports from Hawaii, especially in Maui, to homes, businesses, boats, the extensive loss of life, evacuations, widespread power outages, and other factors, we increased our estimate.”
This is an extraordinary disaster — AccuWeather’s latest estimate would exceed the GDP of Maui, where the worst fires have burned, and equate to about 15% of Hawaii’s GDP. Some estimates show that tourism accounts for 75% of the revenue generated in Maui, which will take months if not longer to recover. The disaster severely affected communications and power infrastructure, leaving thousands struggling to contact emergency services or loved ones for days after the disaster unfolded.
The devastation calls for a long and challenging recovery process. As of Thursday morning, at least 111 people have died, surpassing the 85 deaths in the Camp Fire, according to CNN.
AccuWeather’s damage estimate incorporates independent methods to evaluate direct and indirect impacts of the storm, includes both insured and uninsured losses, and is based on a variety of sources, statistics, and unique techniques AccuWeather uses to estimate the damage, to property, job and wage losses, crops, infrastructure damage, interruption of the supply chain, auxiliary business losses and flight delays or cancellations.
The estimate also accounts for the costs of evacuations, relocations, emergency management, and government expenses for cleanup operations. The long-term effect on business logistics, transportation, tourism as well as the lingering health effects and the medical and other expenses of yet unreported deaths and injuries are among the factors taken into account.
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