CoreLogic: 2M Homes in 4 States at Risk for Storm Surge Damage, Insurers Brace for Matthew’s Impact

As insurers brace for the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, CoreLogic has issued new analysis projecting almost 2 million homes in four states could sustain damage from hurricane-driven storm surge flooding.

GEICO announced it was assigning catastrophe teams and would take claim reports via its mobile app or its call center. CNA announced its Catastrophe Operations Center in Colorado is fully operational and capable of managing claims. CNA was accepting claims via email, phone and fax and through its website.

According to a statement issued by Allstate, a conference room at it’s Northbrook, Ill., headquarters looked more like a command center Tuesday, as more than 50 catastrophe team leaders met to map the strategy and response in preparation for the potential impact of Hurricane Matthew.

Allstate is deploying pre-storm teams of adjusters, catastrophe personnel and as many as four mobile claim centers. The teams are staging in locations along the East Coast, including Tallahassee, Fla. and Greenville, S.C. Those staging cities could change as the path of Matthew changes.

“The key is to select staging locations that are safe for our catastrophe team members to ride out a storm, positioning us to respond quickly to our customers and areas with damage,” said Mark McGillivray, senior vice president, Allstate Claims.

Hurricane Matthew is expected to make landfall in the next 24-48 hours. CoreLogic, a global property information and analytics provider, released analysis howing potential exposure to residential property damage from hurricane-driven storm surge flooding as Hurricane Matthew makes its way toward the U.S. Atlantic Coast.

Figure 1 shows the total number of properties at risk of storm surge damage for each of the five hurricane categories. In addition, the accompanying reconstruction cost value (RCV) is provided.

Hurricane-driven storm surge flooding can cause significant property damage when high winds and low pressure cause water to amass inside the storm, releasing a powerful rush over land when the hurricane moves onshore. This CoreLogic analysis measures exposure to damage from storm surge and does not include potential damage from wind and rain associated with hurricanes.