For the eighth year in a row insurance spokesmen will team with the Texas Department of Insurance and meteorologists from the National Weather Service to advise Texas coastal residents of the potential dangers of hurricanes. This year’s message is Hurricanes Mess with Texas.
“We can’t emphasize enough that when our office sends out weather bulletins describing the intensity of a storm, coastal residents need to take the warnings seriously,” said Dan Reilly, warning coordination meteorologist for the Houston/Galveston National Weather Service Office.
On average one hurricane strikes the Texas coast every three years. The last and costliest hurricane, Hurricane Ike, struck Galveston on Sept. 13, 2008, nearly five years ago. Twenty-two people died and insured losses totaled $12 billion.
In the past ten years five hurricanes have struck the Texas coast. Hurricane Claudette struck Port O’Connor and Victoria in 2003; Hurricane Rita pounded southeast Texas in 2005; Hurricane Humberto swept the same region in 2007; Hurricane Dolly came ashore at South Padre Island and Hurricane Ike slammed Galveston Island in 2008.
“There are generations of Texans living along the Texas coast in places like Corpus Christi who have never seen the effects of a hurricane,” said Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas. “Our coastal tour is a warning to all homeowners not to become complacent or unprepared for a catastrophic storm.”
Hanna and others will be distributing fact sheets on windstorm and flood insurance and recommending that homeowners heed evacuation orders, conduct home inventories and consider purchasing both windstorm and flood insurance.
The hurricane tour also consists of purchasing English and Spanish newspaper ads and radio spots in employing a similar message. The tour reaches more than 2 million Texas coastal residents each year.
The tour will start in the Beaumont, Orange, Port Arthur area and end in the Rio Grande Valley after 47 media stops in five days.
Source: The Insurance Council of Texas
Topics Catastrophe Texas Hurricane Market
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