NU Online News Service, July 2, 11:20 a.m. EDT
Hurricane Alex is expected to have caused no more than $200 million in insured losses because insurance sales in Mexico are low and the area where the storm struck is not densely populated, according to risk modeler AIR Worldwide (AIR).
Alex made landfall on Thursday at Soto La Marina, Mexico, as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of about 105 mph. The town, more than 100 miles south of Borownsville, Texas, is "sparsely populated," AIR said.
Modeler Eqecat said insured losses won't exceed $100 million.
"While Alex made landfall as a more intense storm than was expected, because of the relatively low population in the area and the small size of Alex's radius of maximum winds, Alex's overall impact in terms of wind damage will be less than anticipated," said Tim Doggett, principal scientist at AIR.
The storm's hurricane force winds extended 70 miles from the center, but the radius of maximum winds was just 10 miles, AIR reports.
The National Weather Center said that when Alex reached land its winds decreased to just 50 mph, making it a tropical storm, and it is expected to be further downgraded to a tropical depression.
The insurance industry in Texas has said Alex is mostly a rain event, with no significant damage expected from high winds.
Alex is the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic during the month of June since 1966 and the first Atlantic hurricane to form during the month since Hurricane Allison in 1995. That year saw heavy hurricane activity with 19 named storms, 11 hurricanes and five major hurricanes.
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