Hurricane Irma damage now estimated at up to $65B: report

An estimated 80% of flood damage to residential properties is not covered by flood insurance

Ramrod Key (Photo Credit: Joe Raedle)
Ramrod Key (Photo Credit: Joe Raedle)

UPDATED Sept. 19, 5:55 p.m.: Property damage from Hurricane Irma is now estimated to reach $42.5 billion to $65 billion, with as much as $30 billion for flood-ravaged homes not covered by insurance, according to a newly released report from CoreLogic.

The total figure includes both insured and uninsured losses for residential and commercial properties, including damage from both flood and wind. 

By far, the greatest hit is to flooded homes — estimated at $25 billion to $38 billion in losses. That includes storm surge, inland and flash flooding in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Of that amount, uninsured residential losses are estimated at $20 billion to $30 billion, while the loss for homes with flood insurance is estimated at $5 billion to $8 billion. 

That means an estimated 80 percent of flood damage to residential properties from Hurricane Irma is not covered by any flood insurance, according to CoreLogic.

Wind damage for all properties is estimated to total $13.5 billion to $19 billion in insured losses. Of the total wind damage, an estimated $11 billion to $15 billion represents residential loss. Most damage from hurricane wind is typically covered by private insurers.

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Total insured flood loss for commercial properties is estimated at $4 billion to $8 billion. Data for uninsured flood loss for commercial properties, which could equal or exceed insured loss estimates, is unavailable. Of the total wind damage, an estimated $2.5 billion to $4 billion represents commercial loss.

Hurricane Irma claims filed in Florida already total $2 billion in estimated losses, according to Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation. A total of 335,347 claims were filed through Sunday, including 243,473 claims from homeowners, as well as 19,283 from mobile homeowners.

Last week, catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide had estimated that Hurricane Irma may have caused up to $40 billion worth of insured industry losses in the United States. But that was before the hurricane’s full toll had been seen.

Some of the most impacted areas in Florida were in the Keys. About 25 percent of homes in the Florida Keys were destroyed after Hurricane Irma barreled through the islands, according to estimates by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Irma also caused about $40 billion of CMBS debt, $6.41 billion of which was in Miami, according to an analysis from Morningstar Credit Ratings.