Experts: Laura Losses Could Exceed $12 Billion

Hurricane Laura may have caused more than $12 billion in wind and surge damage to more than 500,000 insured residential and commercial properties, according to early estimates by property data analysis firm CoreLogic.

Most of the property damage occurred in southwest Louisiana, where Laura made landfall early as a Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds. CoreLogic estimates Louisiana’s estimated insured damages at between from $8 billion and $12 billion, while it projects Texas’s loss at $550 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 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or losses to offshore assets.

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

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