Hurricane Damages from Four Storms Total Nearly $580 Million

Hurricanes Laura, Delta, Zeta and Ida had nearly an $580 million impact on the state’s seafood industry, according to an analysis by Louisiana Sea Grant (LSG) and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF).

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Total damages to seafood industry infrastructure were $304.9 million, with 2021’s Hurricane Ida accounting for 70 percent of that number. Revenue losses for commercial vessels, seafood dealers, seafood processors, charter boat operators and marinas across 22 coastal parishes totaled $155.3 million from the four storms. And biological resource losses – harvestable seafood – totaled $118.5 million.

Wind was the primary cause of damages across all four storms, the report also notes.

On Aug. 27, 2020, Hurricane Laura made landfall in Cameron Parish. Two weeks later, Hurricane Delta made landfall in nearly the same location as Laura. On Oct. 28, 2020, Hurricane Zeta came ashore in southeastern Louisiana. And, finally, on Aug. 29, 2021, Hurricane Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon. Twenty-two impacted parishes were part of the study: Acadia, Ascension, Assumption, Calcasieu, Cameron, Iberia, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne and Vermilion.

A full copy of the report can be found at: Projected Infrastructure, Revenue and Resource Losses to Louisiana Fisheries from the Hurricanes of 2020 and 2021