Catastrophe risk modeller CoreLogic has updated its insurance industry loss estimate for the impacts of hurricane Beryl, putting the total for wind losses in Texas at between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion.
At the same time, CoreLogic has updated its estimate for insurable losses in the Caribbean, with $1 billion to $1.5 billion now anticipated for the Windward Islands, and less than $1 billion in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Mexico.
The estimated losses provided by CoreLogic include damage to residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural properties, including damage to contents and business interruption, and also includes demand surge.
Homeowners in Texas have options for deductibles ranging from 1% to 5%, so CoreLogic’s estimate assumes a typical residential policy deductible of 2%. The cat risk modeller notes that uncertainty in the chosen deductible of the individual policyholder can strongly influence the insured loss estimate.
“In this instance, a shift towards the purchase of a higher deductible amount could significantly reduce the losses paid by insurers,” says the firm.
Commenting on hurricane Beryl, CoreLogic has described it as a unique storm, which in addition to setting several meteorological records, defied expectations after landfall in Texas.
“Hurricane Beryl was a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph when it made landfall in Texas over Matagorda County, approximately 90 miles from Houston. The system then turned north then northeast towards Houston. However, even after several hours over land, weather stations in Houston recorded 90 mph wind gusts from Hurricane Beryl.
“This sort of phenomenon is typical of stronger hurricanes (e.g., Category 2 or greater) but less so for a system like Beryl. Winds in excess of 90 mph are capable of damage to modern construction,” explains the firm.
In an earlier estimate, CoreLogic pegged total insured wind and storm surge losses from Beryl in Texas to be between $700 million and $1.5 billion, but said at the time that this may be updated when more data becomes available.
