Hurricane losses could exceed USD200 billion

Wednesday, 11 Sep, 2017 0

The current spate of storms battering Florida and the Caribbean region including Hurricane Irma could amount to a repair bill of $200 billion.

Inga Beale of insurance market Lloyd’s of London expects huge losses, saying: "We had Harvey, which was an unusual type of storm with masses and masses of flooding. Then we have Irma, which we have said could cost $131bn, and then if you’ve got Jose and something else coming in behind it, you could end up with a series of events that could total $200 billion."

Dr Joel N. Myers, founder, president and chairman of AccuWeather, thinks even that figure could be conservative and estimates the combined clean-up bill for Harvey and Irma could reach $290 billion.

This year in particular is proving costly for natural disasters in the US area.

Up to and including Harvey, there have been 10 weather-related incidents in the US this year costing $1 billion or more to clean up.

President Donald Trump signed a bill for more than $15 billion in storm aid for affected areas.

By Sunday the number of Irma-related flight cancellations topped 12,000 at more than a dozen Florida airports and in the Caribbean.

Irma is also impacting flights in Georgia.

Delta Air Lines acknowledged its major hub in Atlanta will also face disruption and has already cancelled flights.

"As Delta meteorologists continue to track Hurricane Irma, strong winds and extended rain are expected in Atlanta starting Monday," the carrier said in a statement.

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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.

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