Despite the high winds recorded from Superstorm Sandy, actualwind damage from the storm was “surprisingly minor,” a report fromreinsurance broker Willis Re says.

Willis Re, a subsidiary of Willis Group Holdings, issued itsHurricane Damage Survey report last week sayingthe storm had estimated sustained winds of 80 mph when it madelandfall near Atlantic City, N.J., at 8 p.m. on Oct. 29.

The storm “became complex when interacting with anotherweather system to the west, creating a large superstorm.”

During a four day period, representatives from Willis Re'sCatastrophe Management Services made assessments, and said asignificant portion of the damage was the result of stormsurge.

“In general, the direct damage to properties due to the windcomponent of the storm was none to minor in the survey areas,” thereport says.

“Damage to buildings from tree fall was widely observed in allareas,” the report adds.

In a statement, Prasad Gunturi, senior vice president at WillisRe, says he “was surprised to see” the limited damage from wind.“However, moderate to minor wind damage was observed in a fewhighly localized areas. This pattern is a clear sign of the complexnature of Superstorm Sandy's wind field.”

The team made its assessment visiting devastated areas along theNew Jersey shore; Staten Island, Coney Island and Rockaway Beach,N.Y. Further assessments are planned for Hoboken, N.J., andManhattan.

Another reinsurance broker, Guy Carpenter, a subsidiary of Marsh& McLennan Companies, issued a report examining the structureof Sandy and touching on the issue of hurricane deductibles.

Several insurance departments, including New Jersey and NewYork, have told insurers not to impose hurricane deductiblesbecause the storm was not classified as a hurricane when it madelandfall.

According to the Guy Carpenter report, the storm's core functioned like ahurricane, drawing energy from the Gulf Stream, but the outerportions mixed with arctic air from Canada, forming the deadlystorm.

“Even without Sandy moving into the area, weather models showedthat a typical Nor'easter world have formed,” says the report.

The combination of the two systems produced a number of recordsthat includes:

• Storm surge level at Battery Park on the south tip of Manhattantopped out nearly 4 feet higher than the previous record set byHurricane Donna in 1960.
• Central pressure of Sandy at landfall in Atlantic City, N.J.was the lowest pressure measured anywhere in the Eastern U.S. northof Cape Hatteras, N.C. The previous record was set by the “LongIsland Express” hurricane of 1938. Sandy's central pressure at thetime of landfall was equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane.
• The storm was the second largest Atlantic tropical cyclone withtropical storm force winds extending out 580 miles from the center,about the size of Texas.

Touching on hurricane deductibles, Guy Carpenter notes that theNational Weather Service says the storm “completed post-tropicaltransition as of 7 p.m. EDT, about an hour prior to landfall.However, the National Hurricane Center continued to issue advisorsup to 11 p.m. despite the fact responsibility for issuing thewarnings shifted to the National Weather Service when it was nolonger officially a hurricane.