Unnamed Storm in Carolinas Caused $7 Billion in Damage, AccuWeather Says

The storm that swamped parts of the Carolinas this week wasn’t organized enough to be named but it still has caused $7 billion in damage, according to a preliminary estimate from AccuWeather. That was approaching the $9 billion in damage left by Category 2 Hurricane Francine, which hit Louisiana Sept. 11.

The level of insured losses from the unnamed system was not available from AccuWeather, a forecasting and storm tracking service. But other reports suggest that most of the losses will come from flooding, only partially covered by the National Flood Insurance Program and private flood insurance.

The storm dumped as much as 20 inches of rain in southeast North Carolina, in what the National Weather Service said was a 1-in-1,000 event.

“While there was some wind damage, it was the flooding that was catastrophic from this storm. People there are saying while it wasn’t named, it was a storm they will never forget,” AccuWeather’s Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said in a statement.

AccuWeather storm chasers Tony Laubach and Aaron Jayjack described the rainband near Wilmington as the worst they have ever experienced. Others called it a ‘firehose’ storm that drenched local areas, including Carolina Beach. S

The long-used Saffir-Simpson wind scale rates hurricanes by wind speed, with Category 5 considered the most intense. AccuWeather said it has developed a RealImpact Scale that includes wind, flooding, storm surge and overall impact. It ranks storms from less than 1 to 5.

The unnamed Carolina storm was rated a 1 on that scale, the second level, AccuWeather explained in an email.

Related: Hundreds of Thousands of Properties Have Filed Repeated NFIP Flood Claims