Just yesterday the cat bond/ILS mavens at Artemis were posting industry estimates of the hit to the Re/Insurance business at $15 - $25 billion while we, using our proprietary "What's on T.V." damage model, were guesstimating total damage at $40 - 50 billion.
Today, based on the extent of the damage to the electrical grid, the 'business interruption' portion of the insurance cover looks to skyrocket. And if you recall, this was the part of policies that terrified the insurers early on in the covid mess and caused them to fight tooth-and-nail against their insureds.
From United Press International (also on blogroll at right):
More than a million people in New Orleans and around Louisiana again began Tuesday without any electricity and officials say it could be that way for weeks after the impact of Hurricane Ida, which experts say caused nearly $100 billion in damage.
Crews are moving in to assess the extent of the damage caused by the major storm to power grids in New Orleans and elsewhere in the state.
Electricity has been out since Sunday, when Ida arrived as a powerful Category 4 hurricane and toppled scores of power poles and damaged equipment.
Utility company Entergy said a transmission tower fell near Avondale and conductors and wires fell into the Mississippi River. As of early Tuesday, about 1.02 million customers in Louisiana are still without power, according to Poweroutage.us. About 60,000 still have no electricity in neighboring Mississippi, which was also impacted by Ida....
....MUCH MORE
