(Bloomberg) -- Estimates for damages caused by Hurricane Harvey are climbing with the storm poised to regain strength in the Gulf of Mexico before crashing back on land.
|Economic losses
Risk modeler Chuck Watson of Enki Research on Tuesday lifted his projection for economic losses to $42 billion, up about $12 billion from Monday.
“We have assumed more damage and obstruction to the drainage and flood-control systems than was the case yesterday,” he said in a note to clients.
|Flood damage coverage
Analysts including David Havens at Imperial Capital have estimated the costs could top $100 billion, potentially causing more havoc than Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which spurred at least $118 billion of losses. About 47% of that was insured, while insurance brokers have said a lower portion of Harvey’s costs will be covered because regular homeowners’ policies don’t include flood damage.
“You’re not going to lose everything,” Watson said by phone. Those assuming more than $100 billion in damages are “assuming a lot of structures are going to be totaled with 100% losses rather than partial losses.”
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