Typhoon Mangkhut, which hit Hong Kong yesterday with hurricane-force winds and a storm surge as high as 3 meters in some areas, could inflict as much as $1 billion in re/insurance market losses, according to an analyst featured in a report by the South China Morning Post.
The typhoon is already the city’s most powerful storm on record and looks set to become its most destructive, after Typhoon Hato left a record $110 million claims bill following its impact last year.
The paper reports that more than 1,500 fallen trees and over 500 broken windows – both dwarfing those tallied last year after Hato struck – have emerged from across the city.
After the worst had passed, Hong Kong International Airport raced to clear a backlog of flights by rescheduling about 2,000 of them over a two-day period and deploying both runways round the clock.
Typhoon Mangkhut also caused severe damage in the Philippines, before it reached Hong Kong, then moved on to cause significant impacts in the Guangdong region of southern China.
It’s anticipated that business interruption is also likely to be a factor in the eventual market loss, given the time which Hong Kong is facing until the city resumes usual function.
One estimate suggested that a single day’s shutdown for Hong Kong could cost the city as much as $930 million in economic activity.
