Texas Insurer Group Says Alberto May be Omen for Rest of Season

Tropical Storm Alberto should be a warning to all coastal residents in Texas that the 2006 hurricane season may exceed the expectations for an overly active storm season. The Insurance Council of Texas urges everyone living along the coast to have an evacuation plan as well as insurance coverage for windstorm and flood.

“Recent hurricanes have taught us to be prepared for the worst,” said Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas. “Without proper coverage, you could be left with nothing.”

Hanna said the majority of homeowners in Sabine Pass, which took the full force of Hurricane Rita last year, were uninsured and the community may never fully recover.

Windstorm policies provided by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association cannot be written once a hurricane has entered the Gulf of Mexico and it takes 30 days for a flood insurance policy to take effect.

Insurers in Texas have settled 159,000 claims resulting from Hurricane Rita paying out $2.2 billion. This represents 91 percent of the claims from the storm, which is expected to hit $2.5 billion in insured losses in Texas.

Source: ICT