Texas Catastrophic Weather Losses Totaled $2.5B in 2009

Texas in 2009 experienced weather catastrophes amounting to more insured losses than any other state. Last year, Texas experienced 10 weather catastrophes that caused nearly $2.5 billion in losses. The next nearest 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, which was $8 billion more than Louisiana, which had the next highest loss total, $2.2 billion.

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

A weather catastrophe is an event which 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. In what 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 next day in Dallas.

2009 Catastrophic Losses

• Texas: $2.458 billion
• Colorado: $1.319 billion
• Georgia: $821 million
• Kentucky: $776 million
• Oklahoma: $604 million

(Property Claim Services)

Source: Insurance Council of Texas, www.insurancecouncil.org.