Catastrophe risk modeller CoreLogic has updated its loss estimate for hurricane Ida specifically for the U.S. Northeast, from $16 billion to $24 billion in insured and uninsured inland flood losses to residential and commercial properties.
Total insured flood loss for residential and commercial properties in the Northeast is estimated to be between $5 billion and $8 billion, while uninsured flood loss for this area is estimated to be between $11 billion and $16 billion.
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts sustained approximately 90% of the losses.
Combined with its previous estimate, CoreLogic now expects insured losses from Ida of up to $29 billion, and economic losses of up to $56 billion.
Hurricane Ida made its first landfall on August 27th near La Columba, Cuba, with maximum sustained winds of 80mph. On August 29th, the storm made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150mph.
After Hurricane Ida made landfall it continued to travel northeast as it downgraded to a tropical storm status, bringing devastating rainfall of six-to-nine inches in three hours in New York, New Jersey and surrounding states.
This record-setting precipitation caused a flash flood event as the rain overwhelmed storm water drainage systems in urban areas where the average monthly rainfall is approximately three inches and little green space exists to absorb sudden inundations of water.
Catastrophic weather events like these are becoming more common and local governments and property owners are taking note, making infrastructure and home resilience improvements in the wake of the recent storms.
Shelly Yerkes, senior leader, insurance solutions at CoreLogic commented: “Given the prevalence of multifamily housing and below-ground structures in these areas, we’ll see more extreme interior content damages than we typically see in southern coastal areas.
“For example, many of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in New York City buildings are in the basements, so contents damage should be substantial.”
David Smith, senior leader of science and analytics at CoreLogic added: “The flooding from Superstorm Sandy was more severe than Tropical Storm Ida. Due to the repairs made in 2012, such as strengthening buildings and infrastructure and addressing deferred maintenance, New York was less vulnerable.
“Tropical Storm Ida’s effects on New Yorkers would have been worse if we hadn’t conducted these resilience-based repairs after Superstorm Sandy.”
