Hurricane Michael losses pinned at $10bn
Insured losses from Hurricane Michael will likely top out at about $10bn, according to catastrophe risk modelling firms.
AIR Worldwide estimates insured losses of between $6bn and $10bn. The estimate compares to $8bn calculated by Karen Clark & Company. Both estimates exclude losses covered under the US’ National Flood Insurance Program.
Hurricane Michael, which made landfall near Mexico Beach in Florida on 10 October, is the most powerful hurricane to have struck the area since records first began in 1851, AIR said. “Catastrophic storm surge damage in Mexico Beach virtually obliterated this community,” the modelling firm explained. Mexico Beach has a population of 2,000 and is also home to Tyndall Air Force Base, which reported significant damage.
Wind damage was largely confined to Florida and southern Georgia, as the hurricane quickly lost strength as it passed through Alabama and the rest of Georgia, AIR said.
Hurricane Michael followed closely after Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas, but the two storms were very different, it added.
“Since Michael was a fairly rapidly moving storm, precipitation accumulation was far less than for Florence, although some of the areas previously flooded by Florence were already saturated. Forecasts of around four to eight inches of rain along the track through the southeastern US were accurate, and these rains triggered some local flash flooding,” said Dr Peter Sousounis, vice-president and director of meteorology at AIR Worldwide.
