Ida is poised to join Katrina, Sandy, Harvey and Irma on the list of the top five costliest hurricanes as measured by insured losses.
Estimates of Ida’s damage have continued to climb as insurers disclose their costs. In one of the newest revisions, Risk Management Solutions Inc., a major catastrophe-risk modeling firm, last week estimated Ida’s U.S. insured losses at between $31 billion and $44 billion since its Aug. 29 landing in Louisiana.
At the low end of RMS’s range, Ida would nudge ahead of 1992’s Hurricane Andrew, the current sixth-place costliest storm with $29.7 billion in insured losses in 2020 dollars, according to data from the trade group Insurance Information Institute based on rankings by brokerage and consulting firm Aon PLC.
Ida’s steep cost is tied partly to the Covid-19 pandemic. Risk modelers say disruptions to construction- and automotive-industry supply chains, as well as labor shortages, are driving up claims costs. In addition, protracted power outages have stretched out repair times.
Publicly traded insurers with the biggest exposures include business and home insurers Chubb Ltd. and Travelers Cos., alongside personal-auto and home insurers Allstate Corp. and Progressive Corp. , he said.
“Ida was definitely a significant storm,” Allstate Chief Executive Tom Wilson said at a Sept. 14 investor conference.
On Sept. 16, Allstate announced estimated gross losses from Ida of $1.4 billion, before accounting for reinsurance. Damage occurred in 19 states, the majority of it in Louisiana, the company said. Reflecting anticipated reinsurance recoveries, Allstate put Ida’s net losses at $631 million, pretax, and $498 million, after-tax.
Progressive said last week in a news release that Ida’s losses through Sept. 15 totaled an estimated pretax $510 million, after reinsurance, in both the Gulf Coast and Northeast.
Some private-sector insurers’ business policies include flood coverage, and auto insurers are expected to be on the hook for many of the vehicles stranded, swept away or forsaken in floodwaters as Ida made its way up north with record-breaking rainfall.