Isaias insures losses estimated at up to $4bn
Hurricane Isaias is expected to result in insured losses of between $1 billion and $4 billion, according to preliminary estimates, with the impact unlikely to affect the credit profiles of major property and casualty re/insurers.
Verisk estimated industry losses to onshore property at $1 billion to $2 billion. The estimate includes insured wind and storm-surge damage to residential, commercial and industrial property, as well as automobiles, with wind expected to account for most losses.
Cotality put insured wind and storm-surge losses higher, at $2 billion to $3 billion, with damage concentrated in the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama.
Euler ILS Partners, an insurance-linked securities investment manager, estimated total industry losses at $2 billion to $4 billion and noted that the storm could add to losses under aggregate reinsurance structures, Artemis.bm reported.
Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, on October 9 as a Category 2 storm, bringing maximum sustained winds of 105mph.
Fitch Ratings said insured losses could reach the mid-single-digit billions of dollars but described the storm as an earnings event for affected companies rather than a threat to their credit standing.
The ratings agency said a wide range of re/insurers with Gulf Coast exposure would report losses in the fourth quarter and for the full year. However, it did not expect the storm to affect the credit profiles of rated property cat re/insurers.
Pre-landfall estimates had placed potential losses in the low to mid-single-digit billions, but the first post-landfall assessments suggest a more moderate insured event.
