Hurricane Fabian Loss Estimate Up To $350M

By Michael Ha

NU Online News Service, Sept. 8, 3 :24 p.m. EDT?Hurricane Fabian--the most powerful hurricane to hit Bermuda in more than 50 years--could cause insurable losses of up to $350 million, according to one industry estimate.

"The damage reports are just coming in, and at this point, insurable losses are expected in the 300-to-350 million dollar range," said Atul Khanduri, manager of engineering at AIR Worldwide, a catastrophe and weather risk modeling unit of Insurance Services Office in Jersey City, N.J.

The hurricane, a Category-3 system with winds of more than 120 miles per hour, passed over the mid-Atlantic British colony last Friday, Sept. 5, causing significant property damage in its path. The hurricane's severe winds felled trees and power lines, and four people are missing and presumed dead.

After hitting Bermuda last Friday, Fabian has moved north over the weekend, no longer posing any threat to land. The last time Bermuda came across a Category-3 system was in 1953, when Hurricane Edna hit the island with 115 mph winds.

As Bermuda begins to assess damages, Mr. Khanduri observed that the hotel industry appears to have taken a big hit "because many hotels and condos are on the beach front, and a lot of those hotels have glass claddings out there. So it appears that commercial properties, especially the hotels, have taken a relatively big hit."

As for Bermuda residential buildings, "they are built out of concrete, and that kind of structure is pretty hurricane-resistant," he noted. "And roofs are generally very heavy timber, and over that, they have limestone covering, which is very wind-resistant."

But still, at many houses, "tiles have been taken off the roofs and those roofs have been ripped off," he said.

Mr. Khanduri forecast that while there is no clear estimate yet, his guess would be that commercial properties might be taking a lot more damage than residential properties.

Compared to other Caribbean islands, Bermuda has much more wind-resistant buildings, and the island government enforces a strict building code, requiring newly built structures to be able withstand winds of up to 110 mph. But, he noted, "these buildings have really not been tested severely before."

Mr. Khanduri also added that the storm surge will also make up a good proportion of the overall damage, and that there would also be business-interruption losses as well, particularly for some hotels that are expected to be closed for a couple more weeks.

As for Bermuda-based insurance companies, "I know some of them were closed last Thursday and Friday in anticipation of the hurricane," said Loretta Worters, spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute in New York. But she said damages and interruption of business are expected to be minimal.

Mr. Khanduri also pointed out that most Bermuda-based insurers are located in Hamilton, which is in the northern part of the island. "And this area appears to have incurred less damage compared to other parts of the island. The southern part of the island is where the most extensive damage has occurred," he said.

The Hamilton, Bermuda-based insurer ACE Limited, for example, announced that its global headquarters are undamaged by the effects of Hurricane Fabian and that they are open for business today.

"We've received no reports that any of our employees were injured during the storm and for this we are particularly grateful," said Brian Duperreault, chief executive officer at ACE. Mr. Duperreault said it will take a few days before ACE's entire Bermuda workforce of 300 can return to work.

However, ACE's operations in Bermuda are fully functional and the company is ready to resume business, he said.

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Hurricane Fabian Loss Estimate Up To $350M

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