As 2014 hurricane season ends the people of Texas can count themselves lucky to have dodged hurricanes for the past six years, which has been particularly good news for coastal residents.
Despite the lack of hurricanes, Texas weather-related losses continue to be among the highest in the nation. Over the last few years, Texas has had numerous catastrophic hail storms and other weather-related events that have resulted in billions of dollars in damage, according to the Insurance Council of Texas.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Storm Prediction Center for 2014 lists Texas No. 1 in severe weather events this year.
Other events noted by the Insurance Council include:
- Three Texas cities were pounded with large hail this year. Baseball size hail struck the residential and downtown areas of Alice, Denton and Abilene this year. Each city is still recovering from these storms as roofers and auto body shops remain busy. The Abilene and Denton storms had insured losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The Denton storms also produced F-1 tornadoes that struck smaller communities east of Denton.
- The deadliest Texas catastrophe in the past six years was the April 17, 2013 grain elevator explosion in West that killed 15 people including 10 firefighters. The explosion caused an estimated $100 million in damage to homes and schools on the community’s north side.
- On Halloween of 2013, heavy rains sent Austin’s Onion Creek to record levels back on Halloween last year. Residents living near the Onion Creek Golf Course that had never been flooded were inundated with water levels four feet and higher inside their homes.
- Also in 2013, Amarillo was hit with damaging hail storms. The city’s May 28, 2013 hail storm covered 75 percent of the city and insured losses reached $500 million.
- The two costliest hail storms this decade occurred months apart in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. On April 3, 2012, large hail and multiple tornadoes ripped through the D/FW metroplex causing $750 million in damage. On June 13, 2012, thunderstorms dropped up to baseball size hail in several parts of Dallas causing an estimated $900 million in damage.
- Two separate hail storms struck McAllen in the Rio Grande Valley in the spring of 2012. The insured losses from those storms are expected to reach $500 million.
“The insured losses from storms in Texas are rising dramatically,” Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas, said in a statement. “Besides the frequent hail storms and other weather events, there’s been a dramatic increase in litigation involving what have previously been seen as routine roof damage claims. This adds to the costs of claims and insurance for all Texas homeowners.”
The colder than average temperatures already this year may indicate a bitterly cold winter for the coming months in Texas. In February of 2012, strong winds and subfreezing temperatures covered the entire state resulting in cracked water pipes and water damage in homes and businesses, according to the Insurance Council.
The year 2011 will go down as the year wildfires raced across the state. Strong north winds and extremely dry conditions were responsible for a wildfire that devastated Bastrop destroying 1,600 structures and insured losses estimated at $360 million. Within 12 months, Texas had wildfires burn over 4 million acres of land, according to the Insurance Council.
The Insurance Council consists of roughly 500 property/casualty insurers writing business in Texas.
Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Texas Wildfire Hurricane
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