KCC: Hurricane Francine insured losses could reach $1.5B
Hurricane Francine is the the sixth hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana in the last five years.
Insured losses in the United States from Hurricane Francine are estimated at around $1.5 billion, according to Karen Clark & Company’s modeling. This includes business interruption and automobiles, as well as privately insured damage to residential, commercial and industrial properties, but does not include boats, offshore properties or National Flood Insurance Program losses.
Hurricane Francine made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 storm on September 11 – making it the sixth hurricane to make landfall in the state in the last five years. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, but quickly weakened to a tropical storm just hours after making landfall.
KCC reports that the Terrebonne Parish in Louisiana sustained the most damage from the storm. New Orleans and Baton Rouge were both spared from Francine’s maximum gusts, but the weaker winds observed in these cities were likely still strong enough to cause damage.
Storm surge threats were mitigated by levees, as surge levels never got high enough to top them. Surge heights of over four feet were observed in areas right along and east of the storm’s track, however, in Terrebonne, Lafourche and Plaquemines Parishes.
After weakening, the remnants of Francine went on to cause flooding rainfall for several days across the southern U.S. The Weather Channel reports that parts of South Texas received as much as 7.44 inches of rain, causing flooding in streets and along parts of the coast.
The highest rain total observed from Francine was in the Florida panhandle, several hundred miles east of where it made landfall, with the city of Apalachicola, Florida recording 12.75 inches of rain. In Louisiana, the highest amount of rainfall occurred in the city of Covington with 9.69 inches.