Hurricane Ike Damages Cost Texas Insurers $12 Billion
Feb. 1, 2010 – It took more than a year to tally the damages from 2008’s Hurricane Ike, but insurance industry officials said the storm inflicted nearly $12 billion in insured damages in Texas and other states, making it the costliest hurricane in Texas’ history.
The Insurance Council of Texas recently pegged total insured damages in Texas from Hurricane Ike at just shy of $12 billion, including $9.8 billion in wind insurance claims and another $2.18 billion in flood insurance claims. Actual storm damage costs were higher than $12 billion, but many homes and other property destroyed had no flood insurance protection.
“Thankfully, coastal residents had been adequately warned for Hurricane Ike, but few were prepared for Ike’s destructive storm surge,” Insurance Council of Texas spokesman, Mark Hanna said. “Many residents who lost everything did not have flood insurance.”
Hurricane Ike made landfall at Galveston, Texas, shortly after 3 a.m. on Sept. 13, 2008. A large, category 2 storm, Hurricane Ike brought with it 110 mph winds and a tidal surge up to 13.5 feet in height that destroyed several buildings lining Galveston’s seawall and caused major damage to high rise buildings in nearby Houston.
In addition to damages in Texas, Ike also inflicted some $318 million in flood-related losses in nearby Louisiana. Officials in 10 other states reported some $137 million in flood losses as Ike’s weakened storm system slowly moved inland and across the Midwest, dumping heavy rains as it moved along. The strong winds from Ike’s storm system inflicted a reported $1 billion in storm damages in Ohio, making it the costliest storm in the Buckeye State’s history.
Hurricane Ike surpassed 2001’s Tropical Storm Allison as the costliest storm in Texas’ history. Tropical Storm Allison struck Houston in June 2001, soaking the city in a deluge and inflicting a reported $3.5 billion in insured losses. Hurricane Rita inflicted some $2.8 billion in insured losses across Southeast Texas in 2005.
“Hurricane Ike, which was an extremely large storm at landfall, maintained a wide swath of damaging winds. Wind damage [was] widespread, not only along the coast, but also extending well over 200 miles inland from Galveston,” said Dr. Peter Dailey, director of atmospheric science at AIR Worldwide.
Boston-based AIR Worldwide is an international catastrophe-risk consulting company that combines computer modeling with risk management to advise homeowners insurance companies and other organizations on catastrophic-level risks.