Tag Archives: Hurricane Laura

Laura Loss Estimates:$4 Billion to $13 Billion

This blog post has been updated based on new information received since it was first published on September 4, 2020.

Hurricane Laura may have caused as little as $4 billion of insured damage or as much as $13 billion, according to early estimates.

Property information, analytics and data provider CoreLogic said residential and commercial insured losses from Hurricane Laura in Louisiana and Texas will come in at between $8 billion and $12 billion. Most of the property damage occurred in southwest Louisiana, where Laura made landfall early as a Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds.

Catastrophe risk modeler RMS puts the range between $9 billion and $13 billion. This includes wind and storm surge losses of between $8.5 billion and $12 billion, inland flood losses of $100 million to $400 million, and National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) losses of $400 million to $600 million.

Catastrophe risk modeling firm Air Worldwide said it expects losses related to Laura to fall in the $4 billion to $8 billion range. The combination of the storm’s track through less-populated areas and its relatively small “Rmax” – the distance from the center of the storm to the location of the maximum winds – should keep insured losses down somewhat, the company said.

Cat risk modeler Karen Clark & Co. estimates insured onshore property losses from wind and storm surge will likely amount to $8.7 billion in the U.S. and $200 million in the Caribbean. Its estimate includes the privately insured wind and storm surge damage to residential, commercial, and industrial properties and automobiles but not losses covered by the NFIP or losses to offshore assets.

All estimates are subject to change as more information becomes available.

If the power goes out, can you get reimbursed for spoiled food?

Following a major disaster like Hurricane Laura extended power outages are common. Nearly 800,000 customers in Louisiana and Texas were without power after the storm hit. However, most electric utility companies do not offer their customers reimbursement for food spoilage caused by long-term power outages.

In the areas of Louisiana and Texas affected by Hurricane Laura, none of the power companies serving those areas provide such reimbursements, according to Bill Davis of Triple-I .

Insurance companies will usually cover up to $500 of food that spoils from a power outage caused by a covered peril under standard homeowners insurance policies. Homeowners insurance deductibles will apply to food spoilage coverage, however, so a $500 deductible, which most policyholders carry, would mean that the policy would only pay if the policyholder suffered more than $500 in food spoilage losses. Some insurers offer food spoilage coverage with a separate deductible for an additional premium.

Hurricane Laura Update: 8/27/2020

Damage reports from Hurricane Laura are coming in. Lake Charles, La., was especially hard hit, and there are reports of a chemical leak nearby.

Laura made landfall near Cameron, La., as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an early-morning bulletin that Laura had weakened to a Category 3 hurricane, with rapid weakening forecast, and the storm has since been downgraded to a Category 1 as it heads northward.

“Lake Charles experienced severe wind damage but seems not to have seen the amount of storm surge that was feared,” said Triple-I non-resident scholar and Colorado State University atmospheric scientist Dr. Philip Klotzbach.  

Despite the downgrade, the hurricane still had sustained winds of more than 100 mph. Heavy rain is predicted to be widespread across the west-central Gulf Coast, with five to 10 inches falling over a broad area, and locally up to 18 inches, leading to flash flooding.

The storm is now tracking inland across western Louisiana with damaging winds and is an inland flood risk as far north and east as Arkansas and the Ohio and Tennessee valleys. 

“The threat of tornadoes today and even tomorrow also exists as the storm recurves into the Tennessee Valley,” Klotzbach said. 

Hurricane Laura set to develop into Cat 4 storm

The National Hurricane Center forecasts Hurricane Laura to reach Category 4 intensity later today.  A ‘life-threatening’ storm surge of 10 to 15 feet is predicted, one of the worst in years, along with destructive winds. The storm is poised to strike the upper Texas coast and western Louisiana.  Hurricane and storm surge warnings have been issued for much of this zone.

If you live in an area ordered to evacuate, leave now. Do not attempt to ride out the storm.  Take your insurance contact information and home inventory with you.

In an analysis based on the assumption that Hurricane Laura would come ashore on the Louisiana coast as a Category 3 storm, CoreLogic, a catastrophe modeling firm, warns that nearly 432,000 single-family and multi-family homes along the coasts of Texas and Louisiana could be damaged from storm surge. According to the analysis, Laura threatens approximately 431,810 homes with a combined reconstruction value of approximately $88.63 billion.

Said Tom Larsen, principal, insurance solutions at CoreLogic, “The coincidence of two catastrophes—a damaging hurricane season and the ongoing global pandemic—underscores the importance of the correct valuation of reconstruction cost, one of the core tenets of property insurance.”

Hurricane Watch: 8/25/2020

Tropical Storm Laura has been upgraded to a hurricane and is tracking northwest across the Gulf of Mexico.  The system is likely to make landfall Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, possibly in eastern Texas or western Louisiana. High winds, heavy rain and storm surge are expected.

If you live along the northern Gulf Coast you are encouraged to prepare now, as conditions will deteriorate during the day on Wednesday.

Please click here for preparedness tips.