Cost of Laura, Delta, Zeta Insurance Claims Up to $7.7B in Louisiana

Through the end 2020 property/casualty insurers have paid or reserved $7.7 billion on claims of all types in Louisiana through the end of 2020 from Hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta, the state insurance department reported.

This data represents the first measure of damage from all three hurricanes that struck the state in the record 2020 storm season, according to the Louisiana Department of Insurance.

Policyholders filed 290,847 claims of all types from the three storms as of Dec. 31. Of those, 161,704 claims, or 56%, were closed with collective payments reaching $5 billion.

The information was generated from a data call to all authorized property/casualty insurers, including surplus lines insurers, to submit their claims data on hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta. The figures include claims from personal and commercial insurance.

They do not include claims or payments from the National Flood Insurance Program, which is not regulated by the Louisiana Department of Insurance.

FEMA recently reported that the NFIP has paid out more than $110 million in flood claims to 3,249 Louisiana policyholders for damage resulting from Delta and Laura alone.

Laura

Policyholders have filed 169,891 claims from Hurricane Laura, which struck Southwest Louisiana on August 27 as a Category 4 storm. Calcasieu, Rapides, Beauregard, Ouachita and Vernon parishes had the most claims from the storm.

As of Dec. 31, 2020, insurers had closed 77% of the claims from Hurricane Laura, 59% of which were closed with payment. Total paid losses plus reserves on reported claims from all surveyed lines of insurance for Hurricane Laura at the end of 2020 were $6.6 billion, accounting for the vast majority of damage from the record 2020 hurricane season in Louisiana.

Delta

Policyholders have filed 71,945 claims from Hurricane Delta, which made landfall in Southwest Louisiana on October 9 as a Category 2 storm. Calcasieu, Lafayette, Acadia, East Baton Rouge and St. Landry parishes filed the most claims from the storm.

At the end of 2020, insurers had closed 82% of all Delta claims, and 53% of those claims were closed with payment. Insurers have paid or reserved $556 million to cover losses from reported claims from all surveyed lines of insurance for Hurricane Delta at the end of 2020.

Zeta

The data call results also included the first claim figures from Hurricane Zeta, which made landfall in Terrebonne Parish on October 28 as a Category 2 storm. Policyholders have filed 49,011 claims through the end of the year. Most of the claims came from Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Tammany and Lafourche parishes.

Insurers closed 79% of reported Zeta claims, and 46% of those claims were closed with payment. Total paid losses plus reserves on reported claims from all surveyed lines of insurance were $499 million for Hurricane Zeta at the end of 2020.

Data for the 2020 hurricanes through Dec. 31 can be found at www.ldi.la.gov/datacallresults.

The LDI said it will continue to collect data from property/casualty insurers to monitor the claims process. The final deadline for data is Oct. 8, 2021.

Source: LDI

Top Photo: Layla Winbush walks over the debris of her family’s destroyed auto detailing business in Lake Charles, La., in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)