Preliminary Estimate of Economic Harm from Hurricane Laura
Published on September 01, 2020 |
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Category 4 Hurricane Laura made landfall just after midnight on August 27, 2020 in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, about 35 miles east of the Texas border. While the damage was significant, the economic costs could have been far worse. The Perryman Group estimates that if the storm had made landfall as a direct hit on one of the nearby refining and petrochemical areas (such as Beaumont), the economic losses could have been 8 to 10 times as large as preliminary damage estimates have indicated. The Perryman Group utilized its impact assessment model and current property damage estimates to measure the total economic cost of Hurricane Laura when multiplier effects are considered. The net impact could include losses to the US economy of nearly $14.0 billion in gross product and 93,500 job-years of employment when multiplier effects are considered. For more details please refer to the full brief, available on our website as a PDF. |
