Hurricane Milton adds to a mounting economic toll of 2024 hurricane damage

According to AccuWeather's damage estimates, just between Helene and Milton, the economic impact will total nearly half a trillion dollars.

Transcript

00:00We do want to continue to cover Milton's aftermath, which certainly continues, and

00:04AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter joins us now with a look at the economic impact

00:09here. John, this was a tenacious storm in so many different ways. Guys, it was. It produced

00:16destructive impacts across Florida. It will go down as one of the most costly and damaging

00:21hurricanes in Florida history, and a toll, a significant one, $160 to $180 billion in total

00:28damage and economic loss, another major natural disaster. And this is in the same conversation as

00:34Ian, which was just several counties south for landfall two years ago. Sure was, and this is

00:40not good company, and look at Helene just a couple of weeks ago, $225 to $250 billion of loss, so this

00:47is a major, major economic loss. And John, I know that we've had 13 named storms so far. Typically,

00:54you might get about five hurricanes out of 13 named storms. We've had five U.S. landfalling

01:00hurricanes out of the 13 named storms, and some of these have had a huge price tag this year.

01:05We have. We've had lots of impacts across many states, many different parts of the coastline,

01:10and take a look at the economic toll is mounting very substantially, and just in the last three

01:16weeks, we've had almost more than $400 billion of total damage and economic loss from Helene

01:23and Milton. Very different storms, but catastrophic impacts. That's almost half a trillion

01:29dollars or 2% of the U.S. gross domestic product, so that puts into context how significant the

01:37losses have been, and in fact, some economists are expecting perhaps 1% to 2% GDP growth this year.

01:44These two storms might wipe that away. John, that's pretty bad news there. When we look ahead,

01:50hurricane season's not over. It continues through the end of November. Obviously,

01:54we do see things typically begin to taper down at some point, but we're not there yet.

01:59We are, and there's going to be a couple of areas with trouble brewing. The first out in the

02:03main development region of the Atlantic, a tropical storm may form there and head toward the islands

02:09in the Caribbean, and then there's going to be another area that we're going to be watching in

02:13that same trouble spot in the Caribbean Sea. And John, overall, the one that does have our

02:19attention a little bit more is closer to home here, and there's kind of an interesting setup

02:23here, a unique setup that makes it a little bit more of a split between one path or another.

02:29That's right. It'll all depend on where the storm develops, and again, this is not toward

02:34until the middle or end of late next week. The storm forming to the south is more likely to go

02:38to Central America. One forming to the north is more likely to head toward Florida. Just what

02:43people don't need. Stay tuned to AccuWeather for more. All right, AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist

02:46Jonathan Porter. Thanks for that insight there, John.