Month: September 2024

CNBC: Impacts Extreme for Insurers

I didn’t hear “Climate” mentioned, did you?

Below, great water vapor imagery shows how rainstorms before Helene’s arrival set the stage for saturated ground and massive flooding.

60 Minutes: Insurers Altering Hurricane Damage Reports

Well, that’s one way to deal with massive increases in storm damage.

Falsify inspection reports, lowball the damage payouts, and dare the cheated customers to sue.

Helene might be one of the most expensive storms ever, and the inspections would just be getting started.

Climate Change is going to be messy.

Ashville Digs Out. Water is Critical Problem, Many Still Missing

Meteorologist Bryan Bennet on Facebook:

Hurricane Helene will likely be one of the top 10 most costly (natural or industrial) catastrophes to ever occur worldwide.

➡️ The most expensive events to occur worldwide (in descending order): Chernobyl, three different earthquakes in Japan & China, Turkey-Syria earthquake, then hurricanes Katrina, Harvey, & Ian.

➡️ Accuweather is estimating that the storm will cost 110 billion dollars. I honestly think it will go much higher once the scope of damage becomes more visible from Florida through the Carolinas.

➡️ I know financial cost isn’t the most important aspect right now, but it is a useful metric to express the enormity of this catastrophe.

How Helene Will Impact Reeling Insurance Markets

Washington Post:

The hurricane’s massive size and record-breaking storm surge left an equally massive footprint of destruction across the Southeast, from Florida’s Tampa Bay region to Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. The storm likely caused $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage, as well as an additional $5 billion to $8 billion in lost economic output, Moody’s Analytics said. Although it is too early to know the full extent of the damage, experts said the storm could have major consequences for homeowners, the private insurance industry and the federal flood insurance program.

“In Florida, we have seen so many companies go belly up because of disasters,” said Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, a consumer advocacy group. As some companies have abandoned the market, new ones have moved in. But Bach said these new players have less experience paying claims and less capital to draw from than the big national carriers. A wave of new insurance claims could send them into bankruptcy.

“None of this is good for anyone: victims, municipalities, FEMA, the market. It’s a huge mess for everyone,” Bach said.

Florida’s insurance market had already been in crisis long before the storm, with many residents still waiting to settle their claims from Hurricane Ian, which struck in 2022. Before Helene hit, some insurance companies had already begun to doubt they could weather Florida’s repeated superstorms. Others had stopped selling new policies in high-risk coastal areas.

These shifts in the industry’s risk tolerance were happening across the country as climate change fueled increasingly severe disasters. But this summer, Moody’s said things appeared to be turning around. The property insurance market was stabilizing, as companies raised rates and reduced coverage. “Companies generally have solid balance sheets,” the agency said in June.

The ratings agency offered a grimmer outlook after Helene, warning of spiking premiums in Florida and more property owners either forgoing coverage or leaving the state.

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