Hurricane Delta Update: 10/16/20
Hurricane Delta made landfall in Creole, Louisiana, on October 9 as a Category 2 storm with 101 mph sustained winds and a 9.3-foot storm surge. Landfall in Cameron Parish was within 13 miles of where Category 4 Hurricane Laura made landfall in late August. Delta knocked out power to over 500,000 customers in Louisiana (a quarter of the state’s homes), plus another 300,000 in parts of east Texas and western Mississippi. It was a record-setting 10th continental U.S. landfall of a named storm during a single hurricane season and record-tying fifth hurricane continental U.S. landfall in a season.
Similar paths by Hurricanes Laura and Delta in Louisiana triggered the state law that stipulates that policyholders are not required to pay a hurricane deductible twice in the same storm season. State Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon said that for people who did not exhaust their deductible during Laura, the remainder would apply to Delta only if the unused amount is larger than the standard all-perils deductible. It is not known yet how many people suffered damage from Delta.
Lake Charles, Louisiana, still recovering from Laura, was once again hit by serious flooding.
Insured loss estimates for Hurricane Delta range from $1 billion to as high as $3 billion, according to catastrophe risk modelling specialist AIR Worldwide. The company warns of the potential for loss increase due to hurricane Delta’s impacts coming so soon after hurricane Laura’s. Karen Clark & Company estimates that onshore insured losses will be about $1.25 billion and CoreLogic estimates that onshore and offshore insurance market losses from Delta will be between $1.5 billion and $2.7 billion.
During a live interview on The Weather Channel’s Weather Underground on Monday, October 12, the Triple-I’s Mark Friedlander discussed property losses for Louisianans who were impacted by hurricanes Delta and Laura. He also provided claims-filing tips.
