CoreLogic puts Hurricane Francine insured wind and storm surge losses at up to $1.5bn

Hurricane Francine, the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, made landfall over coastal Louisiana on September 11th as a Category 2 storm, and is expected to drive insurance industry wind and storm surge losses of up to $1.5 billion, according to catastrophe risk modeller CoreLogic.

The Cat 2 storm made landfall around 30 miles south-southwest of Morgan City, with maximum sustained winds of 100mph and peak gusts of 105mph.

Wind damage to residential property is expected to drive the majority of the modelled loss, with most of the damage occurring in Louisiana, and a slight contribution from damages in Mississippi and Alabama.

CoreLogic’s up to $1.5 billion insured loss estimate includes damage to buildings, contents, and business interruption for residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural property. However, the risk modeller notes that the flood component of the loss does not include precipitation-induced inland flooding and also exclude losses to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Additionally, the total excludes any damage to offshore property.

In Louisiana, a number of parishes, including St. Mary, Terrebonne, Lafourche, and Ascencion, are expected to feel the brunt of the wind and storm surge flooding from the storm, although total wind damage was limited by the sparsely populated coastal region nearest to landfall, and the high degree of resilience in the built environment, explains CoreLogic.

Overall, though, CoreLogic expects Hurricane Francine to be a manageable event for primary insurers, and reinsurance sector analysts have said that the impact to reinsurers will likely be minimal.

Nevertheless, Francine joins a long list of Louisiana landfalling hurricanes, but CoreLogic feels that the storm will rank far below previous storms in terms of total impact to the re/insurance sector.

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