KCC estimates privately insured loss from Debby in the US will near $1.4bn

Privately insured losses in the US from Hurricane Debby, the fourth named storm of the 2024 North Atlantic hurricane season and the third hurricane in the past decade to make landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region, will be close to $1.4 billion, according to catastrophe risk modeller, Karen Clark & Company (KCC).

This estimate from KCC is based on the firm’s high-resolution US Hurricane Reference Model, which suggests that approximately $845 million, or 60% of the total insured loss is from wind, $130 million from storm surge, and $440 million from inland flooding.

KCC explains that its estimate includes the privately insured damage to residential, commercial, and industrial properties and automobiles, as well as business interruption, but excludes boats, offshore properties, or national flood insurance program (NFIP) losses.

Debby initially made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in a sparsely populated area of Florida, but weakened quickly after interacting with land, which KCC notes limited the extent of the wind damage.

However, Debby was a slow moving storm, and for nearly a week caused widespread damage from strong winds, storm surge, and inland flooding along the eastern US. Storm surge reached as high as 6ft in Cedar Key, Florida, and the slow moving nature of the storm ensured the delivery of significant rainfall, leading to widespread inland flooding all along the east coast.

After its first landfall on August 5th in Florida, hurricane Debby made landfall as a tropical storm on August 8th in South Carolina.

This estimate from KCC follows this morning’s estimate from Moody’s RMS Event Response, who pegged the US private market insurance industry loss from Debby at up to $1.5 billion, with NFIP losses of less than $300 million.

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