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Hurricane Rita Claims Expected to Hit $4.7 Billion

Majority of losses sustained in Louisiana, Texas.

The Insurances Services Office expects property and casualty losses from Hurricane Rita to hit $4.7 billion, with the majority of losses occurring in Texas and Louisiana. According to the ISO’s Property Claims Services unit, Rita’s damage will result in approximately 400,000 claims.

Texas had 195,000 claims with losses totaling $2.2 billion, while Louisiana had 180,000 claims and $2.4 billion in losses. Five other states reported claims just under $100 million.

Hurricane Rita made landfall at Sabine Pass, 14 miles from Port Arthur, on Sept. 24 with winds near 120 miles per hour. In Texas, Rita’s storm surge and high winds damaged autos, homes, boats and businesses causing major damage in the Port Arthur, Orange and Beaumont area. Hurricane force winds
toppled thousands of trees making it difficult for rescuers to reach storm victims and restore services.

“Hurricane Rita was more of a wind storm than a rain storm,” said Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas. “The storm moved much faster than was predicted and its hurricane force winds impacted nearly all of East Texas.”

Hurricane force winds between Lake Charles, La., and Beaumont blew out windows, swept away rooftops and twisted highway billboard signs into the ground. Across the Louisiana state line, the fishing community of Holly Beach was practically leveled. More than a million residents lost power and some Texans were still without electricity a month after the storm.

Winds in excess of 100 miles per hour were reported as far north as Lake Livingston, 105 miles from Port Arthur, according to the ICT. Spencer Karr, an emergency coordinator with the Trinity River Authority, reported a 117 mile per hour wind gust at Lake Livingston Dam at 6:15 a.m. Saturday.

Insurers received property claims as far north as Texarkana, nearly 300 miles from the Texas coast.

Hurricane Rita’s $2.2 billion in damages makes it Texas’ second costliest storm on record, the ICT said. The costliest in Texas history was Tropical Storm Allison that deluged Houston with more than two feet of rain on June 8, 2001, causing $3.5 billion dollars in damage.

The state’s top 15 costliest weather catastrophes are listed on ICT’s Web site at www.insurancecouncil.org/.

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association and the Texas FAIR Plan Association together reportedly expect losses to reach $130 million or more, with TWIA seeing the bulk of the claims. TWIA had received 10,450 Rita-related claims and the FAIR Plan had received 1,300 claims by mid-November.