According to an early estimate report released yesterday, Hurricane Milton’s losses will be as much as $34 billion. An estimated $4 billion to $6 billion of those losses are uninsured flood damage.
“Given the large concentration of property in the Tampa Bay area, including older residential and high-value commercial structures, (larger) insured losses were possible,” said Tom Larsen, associate vice president of hazard and risk management at CoreLogic, in his report.
“Today’s storms, today’s events are simply vastly different from yesterday’s events. One of the things that we’re seeing is the energy content that these systems can retain is significantly greater than it used to be,” stated John Dickson, president of Aon Edge Insurance Agency.
Including Hurricane Helen’s losses, the combined damage bill from both storms is estimated to reach $85 billion. Helen, whose damage costs are predicted at $50 billion, is one of only eight hurricanes ever reaching this threshold. A devastating 95% of flood victims affected by Hurricane Helen were uninsured, forcing the nation to consider a massive change in its official flood zoning.
With climate change threatening to increase the number of problems for hurricane prone areas, more superstorms with this damage capability are expected.
By CEO NA Editorial Staff
