Wind Claims from Hurricane Isaac Only Part of the Story
Insurance claims from Hurricane Isaac, which made landfall in far Southeast Louisiana on Aug. 28, could climb to $1.2 billion, according to one catastrophe modeling firm.
AIR Worldwide estimated losses at $1.2 billion, but added they could range from $700 million to $2 billion.
An earlier estimate from EQECAT, another modeling firm, put Isaac’s insured damages onshore in the U.S. as between $500 million and $1.5 billion.
The storm made two separate landfalls in Louisiana, both as a Category 1 hurricane, according to AIR Worldwide. The first occurred on Aug. 28 at low-lying Plaquemines Parish, La., at around 7:45 p.m. CDT. It made a second landfall just west of Port Fourchon, La., at around 2:15 a.m. CDT on Aug. 29.
It then moved northward toward New Orleans.
The irony that Isaac was pounding New Orleans on the same day Hurricane Katrina devastated the city seven years ago was not lost on its citizenry, said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
“For those of that live here this brings back a very painful memory,” Landrieu said. “Our lives in this area of the country are defined by before Katrina and after Katrina. We lost 1,836 family members. … It has forever scarred our lives, changed our lives and redirected the way we do many, many things.”
Issac was far weaker than Katrina, which left 1,800 dead but resulted in the widespread strengthening of the city’s flood defenses. By all accounts the $10 billion spent on bolstering the storm protection system around New Orleans was well spent. Although thousands were stranded due to the over-topping of at least one local levee, the federal levees and storm surge barriers around New Orleans performed as designed.
By Sept. 1, State Farm Insurance Cos., the largest insurer in Louisiana and Mississippi, said it had received 4,266 homeowners’ insurance claims in the two states — 3,805 in Louisiana and 461 in Mississippi. The company had received 1,144 automobile claims — 998 in Louisiana and 146 in Mississippi.
Louisiana Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co. had received about 600 homeowners claims by Aug. 31, along with 125 auto claims, said claims manager Bob Warner.
He said flood claims may be slow to come in because many areas were still flooded over the Labor Day weekend in Louisiana. Farm Bureau is the third-largest homeowners’ insurer in Louisiana.
With the amount of rain slow-moving Isaac dumped on Louisiana and parts north, flood insurance claims are expected to be high. At press time, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency offered no statistics on how many federal flood insurance claims had been filed.
“It’s too soon to tell right now,” spokesman Lars Anderson said.
Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon noted, however, that flood-related damage would be extensive.
“Isaac clearly presents a teaching moment about the necessity of having a flood insurance policy. The National Flood Insurance Program is nearly $18 billion in the red — and that’s largely due to the massive flooding from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that resulted in about $15 billion in Louisiana flood claims. Louisiana flood insurance policyholders benefit more than any other state by far when it comes to the National Flood Insurance Program.”
Isaac’s main impact on Arkansas was rain, as well. The weather service reported preliminary rainfall amounts ranging from 3.26 inches in Alum Fork to 6.1 inches in Fordyce. Heavy rainfall and flash flooding forced schools to send students home early in Pine Bluff, where the National Weather Service said 8.5 inches of rain fell by the afternoon on Aug. 31.
Isaac also dropped four to six inches of rain across a large swath of Missouri, stretching from the Kansas City-area to Kirksville.