Hurricane Debby caused an estimated $89.5 million in insured losses, according to preliminary data submitted by carriers to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (FLOIR).
Gallagher Re indicated that water-related impacts are expected to account for the majority of overall US insured losses, which are projected to range between $1 billion and $2 billion. The firm characterized Debby as a “very manageable storm for the re/insurance market.”
For comparison, Gallagher Re noted that US mainland insured losses from Category 3 Hurricane Idalia last year reached $1.4 billion in current dollars.
Debby made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region on Aug. 5 as a Category 1 hurricane, bringing maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, a report from AM Best said. Gallagher Re reported that winds were less severe than initially anticipated, with the primary damage caused by storm surge and inland flooding from the slow-moving storm.
Debby made a second US landfall in Charleston County, S.C., on Aug. 8 as a tropical storm with 50 mph winds.
State Farm reported approximately 2,300 home and auto claims across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia as of Aug. 8, with the majority of claims coming from Florida and Georgia, according to spokesperson Michal Brower. She said that most claims were related to wind and water damage.
As of Aug. 9, property and casualty insurers had reported 11,972 claims to FLOIR, with more than 7,300 of those related to residential property.
The second-largest category of claims filed in Florida involved other lines of business, including fire, farm owners multiperil, ocean marine, inland marine, private-passenger auto physical damage, commercial auto physical damage, aircraft, glass, boiler and machinery, industrial fire, industrial extended coverage, and multiperil crop, according to FLOIR.
In Florida, insurers reported 198 commercial property claims, 25 commercial residential claims, and three business interruption claims.
In a weekly catastrophe report, Aon highlighted the impact of torrential rainfall from Florida through the Carolinas, which caused flash flooding and at least a dozen tornadoes, damaging numerous homes and businesses. Aon initially estimated that insured losses from Debby would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
FLOIR’s data call also indicated that carriers reported 105 private flood claims.
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