Verisk puts Hurricane Isaias insured losses at $1bn to $2bn, mostly from wind

Verisk's catastrophe modelling business estimated on 13 October that Hurricane Isaias will cost insurers $1bn to $2bn in onshore property losses in the United States. The range covers wind and privately insured storm surge, and Verisk expects wind to cause the vast majority of the insured loss.

Isaias came ashore near Destin, Florida, on the evening of 9 October as a Category 2 storm with sustained winds of 105 mph, having reached Category 3 earlier over the Gulf. For claims departments the picture is mainly one of wind losses. Verisk put the heaviest damage to the west of the landfall point, naming Santa Rosa County and the north-east of Escambia County. The typical claims it describes are for roofs, fences and debris, and in Okaloosa County mostly for trees that fell onto homes.

The estimate includes residential, commercial and industrial property and vehicles, for building, contents and time-element cover; Verisk reported widespread power cuts across the Panhandle. It leaves out National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) payments, rain-driven flooding, which Verisk does not expect to be significant, loss adjustment expenses, marine and infrastructure losses, and any increase from litigation, assignment-of-benefits fraud or social inflation.

Cotality's estimate is higher. It put insured wind and surge losses at $2bn to $3bn, mostly in the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama, Reinsurance News reported on 13 October, and said surge losses would fall mainly on the NFIP and private flood carriers. Verisk said it continues to monitor the storm and assess insured losses as more claims and damage information becomes available.