AIR Estimates Typhoon Wipha Insured Losses under $250 Million

AIR Worldwide Corporation estimates insured losses from both wind and precipitation-induced flooding from Typhoon Wipha (See IJ web site Sept. 18, 19) are unlikely to exceed $250 million (RMB 1.85 billion). “The estimate covers insured losses to property and contents for onshore properties,” said the bulletin.

Dr. Peter Sousounis, senior research scientist at AIR Worldwide said maximum sustained winds were around 100 mph (160 kph) when the storm came ashore Wednesday night. “Tiles on roofs were blown off and streets were flooded as the storm dumped more than 7 inches of rain,” he added. Power cuts affected “hundreds of communities” and preliminary reports indicate that “close to 10,000 homes were destroyed in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, with another 42,000 damaged. Most are unlikely to have been insured,” said AIR. However, the storm weakened rapidly once it hit land, becoming a tropical storm.

AIR noted that “prior to landfall, local authorities evacuated more than 2 million people in the provinces of Shanghai, Fujian, and Zhejiang. In Zhejiang, 1.6 million people were evacuated in the largest mass relocation in more than 50 years. Officials took special precautions to vacate residents on the coastline after last year’s Typhoon Saomai, which battered the same general area of China’s south-central coast and killed 179 people.

Source: AIR – www.air-worldwide.com