Catastrophe risk modeller, CoreLogic, has released an estimate range of between $8 billion and $12 billion for insured wind and storm surge losses for residential and commercial properties in Louisiana and Texas, as a result of the devastating impacts of Hurricane Laura.
The fourth hurricane and first major hurricane of the active 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season made landfall early Thursday morning, local time, near Cameron, Louisiana as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm.
What’s believed to be the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the northwestern Gulf Coast since 1956, analysts at CoreLogic warn that Laura brings threat of further economic uncertainty in the region.
CoreLogic’s latest data analysis puts the insured wind and storm surge loss at up to $12 billion for Texas and Louisiana, of which the large majority is expected to come from wind. Overall, CoreLogic puts insured storm surge losses for both residential and commercial properties in the two regions at less than $500 million, or roughly 4% of the high end of the total.
Other industry commentary in recent days has suggested that while Hurricane Laura losses will reach well into the billions and stress earnings further, they are expected to be manageable based on current data.
Curtis McDonald, meteorologist and senior product manager of CoreLogic, commented: “There is never a good place for a hurricane to make landfall. But this was the best possible outcome because it spared the major population centers of Houston and New Orleans.”
The risk modeller adds that as Hurricane Laura moves east across the U.S., it’s not expected to pose an extreme flood risk, with wind and surge seen as the most likely causes of damage to properties, as well as the threat of tornadoes as the storm progresses.
