Weekend Snow Storm Declared Catastrophe
By Steve Tuckey
NU Online News Service, Jan. 27, 2:47 p.m. EST?Winter storm insured loss totals are starting to mount with the Jan. 22-24 blizzard that blanketed the Northeast being declared a catastrophe by the Property Claims Service.[@@]
That designation means that at least $25 million of insured losses were incurred as a result of the storm in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island last weekend.
Dave Dasgupta, spokesman for PCS' parent, Insurance Services Office in Jersey City, N.J., said that official tallies of insured losses will be prepared in the next few weeks, but he could not set a specific date.
Boston-based AIR Worldwide said that it is currently developing a winter storm model that will be ready sometime this year, and could not provide estimates for the Jan. 24-26 event.
Atul Khanduri, AIR manager of wind risk modeling, said that while some areas experienced record-breaking snowfall, other storms, such as those in 1978 and 1993, were more severe.
"From an insured loss perspective, in general, the snow loads on buildings did not exceed the code-specified design load for structures in the impacted area," Mr. Khanduri said. "Therefore, cases of complete roof collapse are expected to be rare. Damage in most cases is expected to be roof leakage and gutter damage."
Meanwhile, the Ohio Institute of Insurance reported this week that the Jan. 4-6 storm that struck the Midwest caused an estimated $38 million in insured loss damage.
PCS did not classify the Jan. 4-6 storm as a catastrophe. But the national organization does not include flood losses, which are insured by the federal government in their tallies, unlike the OII.
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