Texas Catastrophic Weather Losses Totaled $2.5B in 2009

Texas in 2009 experienced weather catastrophes that resulted in more insured losses than any other state. Texas experienced 10 weather catastrophes in 2009 that caused nearly $2.5 billion in losses. The next highest state in insured losses was Colorado with $1.3 billion in losses.

In 2008, Texas had 11 catastrophic events and $10.2 billion in losses. Louisiana recorded the next highest loss total that year, $2.2 billion.

Gary Kearney, vice president of Property Claim Services that calculates the losses each year, said Texas saw an onslaught of hail, tornados and wind events last year. In 2008, it was hurricanes.

A weather catastrophe is an event that causes $25 million or more in insured losses and affects a significant number of insurance companies and policyholders.

“Texas has been pounded over the last two years with just about every weather event Mother Nature that can throw at us,” said Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas. “In 2008, it was Hurricanes Ike and Dolly. Last year it was tornadoes and hail. Already this year it’s been ice and snow.”

In 2009, the state’s costliest weather catastrophe occurred in the Dallas/Fort Worth area on June 9. An event the National Weather Service office in Fort Worth described as an “extraordinary windstorm” caused an estimated $400 million dollars in damage.

The storm spawned tornadoes and 80 mile per hour winds that tore through Roanoke, Trophy Club and Flower Mound causing widespread damage, while flooding from eight inches of rain occurred the following day in Dallas.

Topics Catastrophe Texas Profit Loss