Hurricane Florence Insured Losses Could Reach $4.6B

Hurricane Florence’s winds and storm surge caused $1.7 billion to $4.6 billion in insured losses along the U.S. Southeast coast, according to an estimate from Verisk Analytics Inc.’s catastrophe risk modeler AIR Worldwide.

That doesn’t include the impact of record flooding that is ongoing, Boston-based AIR said Tuesday in a statement. Catastrophe modeler Karen Clark & Co. estimated earlier that covered losses would be $2.5 billion.

“Flooding may worsen in many locations across South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia as precipitation continues to fall on saturated ground and runoff drains slowly toward the coast,” AIR Worldwide said in the statement.

Florence is being blamed for at least 34 deaths in three states, Associated Press reported. The storm made landfall in North Carolina on Friday, destroying structures and breaching a landfill holding potentially toxic coal ash.

On Tuesday, the storm brought rain to New York and the Northeast as it was forecast to pivot through the day across New England and then out into the Atlantic.