Gulf Coast Escapes Edouard

According to a Guy Carpenter report, Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall on the upper Texas coast half way between High Island and Sabine Pass earlier this week with sustained winds of around 65 mph. The storm is traveling in a west-northwest direction and this motion is expected to take the storm north of Houston as it heads inland and weakens later this week. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said tropical storm-force winds extend 70 miles from the center of the storm.

Risk-management firm EQECAT said some limited damage to oil facilitates near Edouard's path could occur, but newer platforms are not expected to be functionally damaged, which will restrict offshore energy production losses. It added that insured losses are expected to be limited and are not expected to exceed $100 million. AIR Worldwide, meanwhile, said that it does not expect Edouard to cause significant insured losses.

The NHC said Edouard could produce three-to-five inches of rain in parts of Louisiana and Texas, with up to 10 inches possible in some areas. The NHC warned that Edouard could cause coastal storm-surge flooding of two-to-four feet above normal levels near the landfall location. It also said tornadoes could develop in southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas over the next few days.

There was little damage reported along the upper Texas coast. The U.S. Census Bureau said that more than 5.4 million people could be affected by the storm, especially those in the low-lying areas of Galveston. Texas Governor Rick Perry issued a disaster declaration for 17 counties before Edouard made landfall and mobilized about 1,200 National Guard troops. Up to 30,000 people lost power in the state. In Louisiana, meanwhile, Governor Bobby Jindal declared a statewide emergency and officials in Cameron Parish told up to 3,000 residents to evacuate low-lying coastal areas prone to flooding.

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