Hurricane/Tropical Storm Debby Should be Manageable for Insurers, Early Data Show

Reports from Gallagher Re and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation suggest that Tropical Storm Debby will not be a heavy lift for property insurers and reinsurers.

“Early assessments suggest wind-related physical damage (is) not as extensive as initially feared,” the Gallagher Re reinsurance brokerage said in an advisory late Thursday. “Debby should be a very manageable storm for the re/insurance market.”

And Florida’s OIR reported that, based on data submitted by Florida insurers by noon Thursday, some 8,856 claims had been filed, 5,527 of which were for residential property. Altogether, the estimated value of the Debby claims so far is more than $67 million.

Some 52 private flood claims were reported. National Flood Insurance Program claims were not immediately available.

The Debby claims could prove to be more than 2023’s Hurricane Idalia, a more intense storm that followed a similar path through less-populated areas. Idalia produced some 25,000 claims within three months of landfall, with an estimated total value of $309 million, OIR noted. More data is due from insurers today, Friday.

Gallagher Re said that most losses from Debby will be from flood damage, as the storm dumped as much as two feet of rain in parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina this week.

“Historical loss data notes that a landfalling Category 1 hurricane in Florida’s northern Gulf Coast region has led to wind-related insured losses near or below USD1 billion,” the Gallagher report said.

Tornadoes were reported near Lucama, North Carolina, but the damage was localized to several homes. Wilson County Schools said Springfield Middle School lost sections of the walls and roof. A dam north of Fayetteville, North Carolina, broke Thursday morning as Debby drenched the region, the Associated Press reported. Between 12 and 15 homes were evacuated, but no one was injured and no structures were damaged, Harnett County spokesperson Desiree Patrick said in an email.

The remnants of the storm were moving into Virginia Friday morning and were expected to bring heavy rain and flash flooding into New York and New England over the weekend, according to news and weather service reports.

Photo: Charles Grainger cleans up in the historic district of French Quarter Creek as flood waters receded in Huger, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Carriers Windstorm Data Driven Hurricane