Hurricane Dennis, which whipped through four states causing wind damage and flooding two weeks ago in the South, will cost insurers $900 million in four states, the Insurance Services Office Inc. announced today.
The Jersey City, N.J.-based insurance industry product and services provider said Dennis caused much less damage than each of the four hurricanes that rocked Florida last year but nearly matched this year's second-quarter catastrophe loss of $920 million.
Dennis made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on the five-point Saffir-Simpson scale, with sustained winds at 120 mph, on July 10. The hurricane landed just west of Pensacola, Fla., ISO said, and then moved farther inland to Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.
ISO said Florida suffered $640 million in insured losses to residential and commercial property and auto. Alabama followed with $115 million in losses; Georgia had $85 million in losses; and Mississippi registered $60 million in losses.
ISO's Property Claim Services unit estimates that the event will generate slightly more than 126,000 claims from homeowners and businesses.
Estimates from modelers put insured damages at between $1 billion and $5 billion.
In an e-mail from AIR Worldwide Corporation, a spokesman noted that the firm issued an estimate between $1 billion to $2.5 billion shortly after the storm made landfall, and the low range of the preliminary estimate falls within 10 percent of ISO's loss figures. AIR is a subsidiary of ISO.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Administration, part of the Department of Homeland Security, more than $10 million in individual assistance has been approved in Florida and 19 counties were designated for disaster assistance.
Alabama residents have received $2.8 million in assistance and 45 counties were designated for disaster assistance. In Mississippi, 41 counties were designated for disaster assistance.
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