At least 66 people died in the United States after Hurricane Ian. The brutal storm could become one of the costliest cases for the insurance industry.
The hurricane left a trail of devastation in its wake. Local residents threatened looters with a sign with shots.
Once again a hurricane hit the USA with enormous force. At least 62 people died in Florida alone as a result of hurricane “Ian” and at least four more in North Carolina. Most of the victims apparently drowned. The hurricane left tremendous devastation in its wake. For insurers and reinsurers, “Ian” means dealing with one of the worst storm losses in US history.
Specialist companies that assess the possible consequences of disasters and the actual damage on behalf of insurers believe that the damage from “Ian” is of a similar magnitude to that of hurricane “Katrina” in 2015, which flooded the city of New Orleans and insured Caused $65 billion in damage.
Estimated damage: more than 100 billion dollars
The catastrophe specialist Karen Clark & Company (KCC) has already ventured a flash estimate and predicts insured losses of 63 billion dollars. Added to this are damage to uninsured property, damage to infrastructure, and cleanup and restoration costs. According to the KCC, the total economic damage will therefore amount to more than 100 billion dollars.
Moody’s preliminary loss estimate is somewhat more cautious. Analysts there are currently expecting insured losses of between 45 and 55 billion dollars.
In addition, insurers have to prepare themselves for a large wave of lawsuits and court cases from injured parties who consider the insurers’ compensation offers to be too low.
There have been a number of legislative changes in recent years that should help reduce the flood of lawsuits. However, these efforts are only paying off to a limited extent, because hurricane “Ian” caused particularly high wind and water damage, for which the legal situation is less clear. Disaster specialist KCC currently assumes that part of the flood damage will be paid for by insurers, even if it is not expressly covered.
Foreseeable dispute between insurers and injured parties
On the one hand, the fact that hurricanes cause such great damage is due to their increasing strength, which many experts believe is a consequence of climate change. On the other hand, the increasing development of storm-prone properties with expensive residential buildings and hotels plays a major role.
It is already clear that there is a heated argument as to whether damage was caused by the storm or by flooding. Because many properties are insured against storm damage, but not against water damage. American homeowners typically either protect their homes through the state flood program or do not protect their properties at all: Only 10 percent have a flood policy.