The significant difference between insured and economic losses in Hurricane Helene will be determined by the lack of flood insurance take-up rates and claims adjustment practices when wind and water damage are both present.
The 3 major regions of impact from Hurricane Helene will influence damage assessment and ultimate claims payment:
- Wind versus water claims in the landfall region of the Big Bend of Florida.
- Historic coastal inundation resulting in storm surge induced flooding across the west coast of Florida, including the Tampa Bay metro region.
- Extreme and record shattering rainfall and catastrophic flooding, mudslide and landslide devastation in the mountainous regions of North Carolina, Tennessee, and to a lesser degree in South Carolina and Georgia.
Extreme infrastructure damage has transpired with Hurricane Helene.
- Hundreds of miles of damaged and destroyed roads, including US Interstates 26 and 40.
- 3.4 million customers are without power, the highest peak outage total since Hurricane Irma (2017).
- Over 4,500 cellular sites are offline, the largest number from a landfalling hurricane since records were kept in 2016.
Part 1 of the Hurricane Helene Post Event Report is available for download, which examines insurance market implications of the event and the wide ranging infrastructure damage. Later this week, Part 2 will dive deeper into the ramifications of flood infrastructure in the United States as well as the implications a changing climate has on events such as Hurricane Helene.
Part 2 of the Hurricane Helene Post Event report, focusing on flood infrastructure considerations and a changing climate relative to the event, will be issued later this week.