total damages vs. uninsured damages

I have to say I’ve been impressed with AccuWeather’s forecasts on extreme weather. They, along with the National Weather Service (NWS) were ringing the bell early on the stream of storms that caused significant damages across a southern swath of the United States. There was record rain and flooding, along with many tornados in the areas that were predicted to be impacted.

Now they have their damage estimate out. I don’t know how they do their estimations and what algorithms they use, but for their estimations, they are looking at total damages—across the board. Whereas, for a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declared disaster they are looking at uninsured property losses, which become eligible for some disaster relief.

Here’s the latest on damages from AccuWeather

This is a preliminary estimate, which considers what has already occurred as well as additional flooding impacts expected over the next week. The full effects of flash flooding, tornadoes, hail and damaging wind gusts are continuing to be felt. Some areas have not yet reported information about damage, injuries or other impacts. Water is still rising in some communities as rivers receive water that has runoff from creeks and streams in recent days. Major river flooding will continue in some areas for days to come, unfortunately resulting in additional risk to lives and property. 

“A rare atmospheric river continually resupplying a firehose of deep tropical moisture into the central U.S., combined with a series of storms traversing the same area in rapid succession, created a “perfect storm” for catastrophic flooding and devastating tornadoes,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said. “We’re heartbroken by the loss of life and destruction from this once-in-a-generation storm. Houses and businesses were destroyed by tornadoes. Homes and vehicles were swept away by fast-moving floodwaters. Bridges and roadways were washed out or destroyed in some areas. Travel, commerce and business operations were significantly disrupted. It will take years for some of the hardest-hit communities to recover. AccuWeather experts warned of the risk for major flooding earlier and with better descriptions of the impacts than other known sources, and we are confident that those warnings saved many lives and helped people to best prepare for an incredibly dangerous setup.” 

AccuWeather’s preliminary estimate of total damage and economic loss of $80 billion to $90 billion accounts for damage to homes and businesses, disruptions to commerce and supply chain logistics, impacts to shipping operations at major hubs, financial losses from extended power outages, major travel delays, as well as damage to infrastructure.  

AccuWeather expert meteorologists say the atmospheric river, thunderstorms moving over the same areas and rounds of downpours unleashed 8-16 inches of rainfall and even higher localized amounts around 20 inches in communities over a widespread area across Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana from April 2 to April 6, triggering extreme flash flooding. Homes, apartment complexes and businesses across the region have been damaged or destroyed by flooding. 

Water damage is particularly costly to repair and is often not covered by homeowner’s insurance policies. Many people are often underinsured for flood damage. An estimated 4 percent of homeowners in the U.S. have flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), although the uptake in the NFIP program tends to be higher in communities along waterways, such as rivers, where some of the flooding has occurred in this event.  

Roads and railroad tracks across the region have been damaged, even washed away in some spots, by the force of fast-moving and rising floodwaters. The damage, until repaired, can have long-lasting impacts on commerce routes and shipping logistics in the region. 

There have been nearly 90 reports of tornadoes since the start of April. At least three tornadoes have been preliminary rated as EF3 or stronger, with winds of 136 mph or higher, in Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee. The number of tornado reports will likely increase throughout the week as additional damage surveys are completed.  

AccuWeather expert meteorologists say hailstones as large as 3 inches or more in diameter and wind gusts up to 100 mph also caused damage during the rare, multiday severe weather outbreak.   

AccuWeather incorporates independent methods to evaluate all direct and indirect impacts of the storm, includes both insured and uninsured losses and is based on a variety of sources, statistics and unique techniques AccuWeather uses to estimate the damage. It includes damages to property, job and wage losses, crops, infrastructure, interruption of the supply chain, auxiliary business losses and flight delays. The estimate also accounts for the costs of evacuations, relocations, emergency management and the extraordinary government expenses for cleanup operations and the long-term effects on business logistics, transportation and tourism as well as the long-term and short-term health effects and the medical and other expenses of unreported deaths and injuries.   

AccuWeather is the trusted source for total damage and economic loss estimates for weather disasters in the United States. Our recognized experts incorporate independent methods to evaluate all direct and indirect impacts of extreme weather events. In 2017, AccuWeather first issued a widely quoted preliminary estimate for total damage and economic loss during catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey along the Gulf Coast, which helped people in the impacted area, and across the country to better understand the magnitude of the disaster.      

This is the third preliminary estimate for total damage and economic loss that AccuWeather experts have issued so far this year, outpacing the frequency of major, costly weather disasters since AccuWeather began issuing estimates in 2017.