An early projection of losses following Hurricane Ian indicates that the storm caused as much as $47 billion in damages, making it Florida’s costliest hurricane since Andrew.
According to CoreLogic, early estimates indicate the hurricane caused $22 billion to $32 billion in insured damages in Florida. The group estimates Ian caused an additional $6 billion to $15 billion in uninsured damage.
“This is the costliest Florida storm since Hurricane Andrew made landfall in 1992 and a record number of homes and properties were lost due to Hurricane Ian’s intense and destructive characteristics,” said Tom Larsen, associate vice president of Hazard & Risk Management at CoreLogic. “Hurricane Ian will forever change the real estate industry and city infrastructure. Insurers will go into bankruptcy, homeowners will be forced into delinquency and insurance will become less accessible in regions like Florida.”
The group said that most of the damage was caused by wind. The group estimates the hurricane’s winds caused $22 billion to $32 billion in damage. CoreLogic estimates that storm surge caused between $6 billion and $15 billion in damage.
When adjusted for inflation, Hurricane Andrew cost an estimated $55 billion, but some of those losses occurred in Louisiana, which was also impacted by the 1992 hurricane.
Like Andrew, Hurricane Ian had a second U.S. landfall. Hurricane Ian is striking South Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane.
Just four years ago, Hurricane Michael hit the Florida panhandle as a Category 5 storm. That storm brought an estimated $25 billion in damages.
