Verisk Estimates Insured Losses for Hurricane Milton at Between $30B and $50B
Insured industry losses to onshore property for Hurricane Milton will fall between $30 billion and $50 billion, according to an estimate out on Wednesday from Verisk.
Moody’s RMS Event Response said earlier this week that total U.S. private market insured losses from the Hurricanes Helene and Milton will likely range between $35 billion and $55 billion. Modeler Karen Clark & Company issued an estimate this week for Milton alone that will be close to $36 billion in the US from wind, storm surge and inland flooding.
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Verisk’s estimate includes losses due to wind, privately insured estimates of storm surge, and privately insured precipitation induced flood losses resulting from Milton’s landfall in Florida. The majority of the insured loss is attributable to wind.
Both Moody’s and Verisk say the confluence of the two storms will make paying claims and attributing losses difficult.
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Areas around Tampa Bay, south to Siesta Key, and along the coast south toward Fort Myers were impacted by both storms. In addition to claims settlement challenges, the back-to-back coastal flooding events could lead to aggregate flood limits being reached in some cases, according to Verisk.
There were several reports of massive debris left outside properties from Hurricane Helene, which could have further exacerbated damage from Hurricane Milton by acting as projectile sources, according to Verisk.