Predictions of an active 2024 Atlantic hurricane season may come to fruition if early, overperforming Hurricane Beryl is any indication of what the coming months may bring. In response to Beryl, experts are warning policyholders and insurers alike to batten down the hatches and prepare for the worst — just in case. "Beryl's early season and record breaking trek across the Atlantic should be a wake-up call that the 2024 season is likely to bring more unexpected storm behavior and a high frequency of events," Gallagher Re warned in a commentary about the storm. "It is important to note that more events do not inevitably translate to more landfalls or subsequent loss costs, but the prospect of more storms does mean more chances of impact. The bottom line is that the insurance industry and governmental agencies need to be anticipating a challenging rest of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season." Beryl became the first hurricane of 2024 on June 29, and rapidly intensified before making landfall on Grenada's Carriacou Island on July 1 as a Category 4 hurricane. The storm continued to strengthen before hitting Tulum, Mexico on July 2 as the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record. The NOAA attributes the uncommon strength of this early-season storm in part to exceptionally warm ocean temperatures. Recovery efforts are currently underway in Southeast Texas after Hurricane Beryl made landfall there early Monday morning. Just under 2.1 million Texans remained without power as of Tuesday afternoon. Though the storm had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane by the time it reached Texas, it still dropped an estimated 8 to 12 inches of rain in the Houston area which — combined with hurricane-force winds — led to extensive damage and flooding. Despite Texas's vulnerability to hurricanes and other severe weather events, less than 6% of buildings in the state are covered by flood insurance, according to Neptune Flood. Not only is this coverage gap wide, but it's growing. Neptune reports that the number of flood policies in Texas dropped by 6.2% from May 2023 to May 2024, despite the fact that flood insurance payouts in the state surpassed $11.5 billion over the last decade. Though it is too early to have a full picture of the damage caused by Beryl, Gallagher Re predicts that wind-related insured losses for the private insurance market could minimally run into the hundreds of millions. However, the fact that Beryl affected the densely- populated Houston metro region means it is possible wind losses could be higher. They predict that payouts from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) could also reach into the hundreds of millions as the result of overflow, flash flooding and storm surge caused by Hurricane Beryl. AccuWeather's Global Weather Center estimates economic losses and damage from Beryl in the United States will be between $28 billion and $32 billion. Damage in the Caribbean is also likely to surpass hundreds of millions of dollars, with the following impacts reported by OCHA and the UN Emergency Technical Team for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean: |

• 20-40% of homes damaged in Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
• 98% of houses and infrastructure heavily damaged or destroyed in Union Island, St. Vincent and Grenadines
• 100% of homes destroyed in Canouan, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
• 98% of the infrastructure destroyed in Carriacou and Petite Martinique, Grenada

"It's safe to assume at this point that there's more where Beryl came from ahead," Richard Folkman, vice president of CAT operations, flood & carrier practice leader, at Crawford & Company told PropertyCasualty360. "Homeowners can prepare for the next storm by documenting the current condition of their home before a storm hits. Take photos of the interior room by room to capture all of your personal belongings and then upload those pictures to the cloud. Secure important documents. And make sure that your agent has your current contact information (a lot of people neglect to make changes to their phone number and then an adjuster can't reach them). Be as ready as you can be in case the next storm comes your way." "Carriers have to be as vigilant about monitoring the storms as the policyholders do," Folkman continued. "They have to have the pieces in place to be able to take care of the claims when they come in."

Related:

• How insurers are positioned to respond to the 2024 hurricane season
• Early forecast calls for 'well above-average' 2024 hurricane season
• The costliest hurricanes to hit the U.S.