Insured losses from Typhoon Wipha, which struck China Wednesday, are unlikely to exceed $250 million, a catastrophe modeling firm said.
AIR Worldwide Corp. in Boston said yesterday its estimate covers insured losses to property and contents for onshore properties from wind and precipitation-induced flooding.
Wipha was the second big Pacific Ocean storm in two weeks. On Sept. 7, Typhoon Fitow hit communities southwest of Tokyo.
Peter Sousounis, senior research scientist at AIR Worldwide, said Typhoon Wipha made landfall about 50 miles south of Wenzhou City in Zhejiang province of China with maximum sustained winds near 100 mph.
"Tiles on roofs were blown off and streets were flooded as the storm dumped more than seven inches of rain," said Mr. Sousounis.
In addition, hundreds of communities lost power. According to AIR, early reports from local officials suggested that close to 10,000 homes were destroyed in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, with another 42,000 damaged. Most are unlikely to have been insured, the company said.
Prior to landfall, local authorities evacuated more than 2 million people in the provinces of Shanghai, Fujian and Zhejiang. In Zhejiang, 1.6 million people were evacuated in the largest mass relocation in more than 50 years, AIR reported.
The firm said officials took special precautions to vacate residents on the coastline after last year's Typhoon Saomai, which battered the same general area of China's south-central coast and killed 179 people.
"Wipha lost intensity rapidly after landfall," continued Mr. Sousounis. "By 11:00 a.m. local time, winds had dropped to under 70 mph and the system was downgraded to a tropical storm. However, forecasters said Wipha would continue to dump heavy rains along China's already soaked eastern seaboard through Thursday."
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