2020 hurricane season

Florida’s homeowner’s insurance carriers are struggling with their performance in 2020 and reporting significantly elevated combined ratios despite the fact this year’s hurricane activity largely avoided the State.

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season comes to its official close today and two factors characterise what has been a record-setting season in many ways, the frequency of tropical storms and their rapid intensification, especially as they close in on landfall.

Hurricane Iota has rapidly strengthened into a major hurricane and will bring catastrophic and life-threatening impacts to a Central American region that has yet to recover from the impacts of recent storm Eta.

Hurricane Delta is estimated to have caused onshore insurance and reinsurance industry losses in the United States of between $2 billion to $3.5 billion, with up to $500 million of wind losses also estimated inshore for Mexico, and up to another $1 billion of insured losses to offshore platforms also expected by catastrophe risk modeller […]

Catastrophe risk modelling specialist AIR Worldwide adds a dose of uncertainty around the whole hurricane Delta loss estimate story, saying that it puts the insurance and reinsurance market impacts from the storm in a wide range from $1 billion to as high as $3 billion.

Hurricane Delta is estimated to have caused total insurance and perhaps reinsurance market losses of between $1.5 billion and $2.7 billion, taking into account both onshore wind and surge impacts as well as damage to offshore structures, CoreLogic has reported.

Onshore insured property losses from hurricane Delta in both Mexico and the United States are seen as only coming close to $1.25 billion, by catastrophe risk modelling specialist Karen Clark & Company.

Hurricane Delta made landfall in the region of Creole, Louisiana on Friday at 18:00 local time, at Category 2 hurricane strength with sustained winds of 100 mph and impacted a region already badly affected by hurricane Laura at the end of August.

Hurricane Delta has intensified overnight as expected reaching 120 mph Category 3 sustained winds as it tracks towards the northern Gulf Coast, with southwestern Louisiana expected to see damaging hurricane force winds and a life threatening storm surge on landfall.

Hurricane Delta struck the Yucatan Peninsula region of Mexico yesterday, causing damage to properties including in the high-value Cancun resort region. The hurricane weakened slightly, but has since intensified again after emerging fully over the Gulf of Mexico.