Irene Caused Less Damage than Expected, But Uninsured Damage is Big

September 1, 2011      

The hurricane has passed; overall, damage was not as bad as expected. While many business owners dodged a bullet, others were not so lucky. Insured damage from Irene will range between $2 billion and $3 billion, and the total losses will likely be about $7 billion, according to preliminary estimates by Kinetic Analysis Corp. a consulting firm.

Both figures are less than had been feared, a bit of reassuring news for a fragile economy. However that is $4-5 million in uninsured loss; so the news isn’t that reassuring to the businesses who have to figure out how to cover that loss.
 
Also, the long-term costs of Irene will likely grow as storm-ravaged areas deal with lost business, insurance claims, dislocated workers and transportation disruptions. These costs will take months to fully calculate.

The preliminary estimate from Kinetic Analysis, based in Maryland, suggests that Irene will have caused far less insured damage than the $6 billion the industry paid out after Hurricane Isabel struck the East Coast in 2003.

Information from insurancenews.net

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