The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) has placed Hurricane Harvey insured losses at $19 billion, $11 billion of which is expected to be paid out by the NFIP flood insurance, making the hurricane the second highest on record for flood damage after hurricane Katrina.
“The number of uninsured homeowners who felt the full wrath of Harvey is staggering,” said Mark Hanna, an ICT spokesperson; “Undoubtedly, the full economic impact from Harvey on Texas, will not be known for some time.”
Insured windstorm and other storm-related property losses are expected to reach $3 billion, while insured losses from auto losses and commercial property have been placed at $4.75 billion.
ICT said these estimates don’t include residential property losses due to flooding or any uninsured losses.
The catastrophic flooding in Houston, Beaumont, and other southeast Texas cities caused an estimated 250,000 vehicles to be flooded.
After making landfall, Harvey dropped over 50 inches of rain over parts of Houston and southeast Texas, causing record level floods to cover Texas from La Grange to the Louisiana border.
The scale of the flooding highlighted the proportion of uninsured homeowners, and is expected to raise the debate on NFIP and flood insurance in the region.
Harvey struck the Rockport/Port Aransas communities as a category 3 hurricane with 130 mile per hour winds on August 25th causing extensive damage and resulting in 70 deaths.
