Hurricane Sally set to cost re/insurers up to $3bn — AIR

Hurricane Sally losses will cost re/insurers up to $3 billion, including privately insured wind and storm surge damage to residential, commercial, and industrial properties and automobiles, according to the latest estimates.

Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that industry insured losses to onshore property resulting from Sally’s winds, storm surge, and inland flood will range from $1 billion to $3 billion, with wind representing the majority of the losses.

Meanwhile, Karen Clark & Company's (KCC) cat model pegs the losses to be around $2 billion, excluding NFIP losses, losses to offshore assets, or any potential impacts on losses due to COVID-19.

According to the AIR report, the areas of notable storm surge inundation include Orange Beach and Dauphin Island, Alabama, and other coastal communities of Baldwin County. Areas of notable inland flooding include downtown Pensacola, which received 24.8 inches of rain from Sally. Flooding in coastal communities in Baldwin County and the Florida Panhandle was largely caused by hurricane-induced precipitation.

Along its track, the Category 2 hurricane caused mostly minor roof damage, broken windows, downed trees, toppled church steeples and appurtenant structures such as gas station canopies, and some isolated major structural failures, and damaged infrastructure in Alabama and Florida. At its height, power outage extended to nearly half a million customers—most of them in Alabama and Florida.