damage News

Modeler KCC Puts Privately Insured Losses at $6.4B From Helene

Privately insured losses from Hurricane Helene will be about $6.4 billion from wind, storm surge and inland flooding in nine states, according to Karen Clark & Co., a well-regarded storm modeling and analytics firm. The figure includes residential, commercial and …

Maui Fire Caused by Broken Power Lines, County and US Find

The fire that razed the historic Maui town of Lahaina last year was caused when Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. re-energized broken utility lines that caused sparks to ignite unmaintained dry vegetation, the Maui Fire Department said. The blaze was a …

Biden to Deploy 1,000 Troops to Aid North Carolina After Helene

President Joe Biden said he directed the Pentagon to send up to 1,000 active duty troops to help with recovery operations in North Carolina ahead of a trip to one of the states hardest hit by Hurricane Helene to survey …

State Farm, Citizens Brace for Losses From Hurricane Helene

State Farm General Insurance Co. and Citizens Property Insurance Corp. are bracing for the insurance industry’s largest losses from damage caused by Hurricane Helene, which is quickly becoming one of the costliest storms in U.S. history. State Farm was the …

Hurricane Devastates Southern Cotton Crops Just Before Harvest

Cotton growers are facing devastating losses and delays from Hurricane Helene just as harvest was beginning, marking the latest blow to profits in an already weak market. The storm ripped through the cotton-growing regions of Georgia and the Carolinas after …

Hurricane Helene Halts Poultry Plants, Damages Cotton Crops

Hurricane Helene has halted chicken processing plants and caused severe damage to some flocks, while also downing pecan trees and flattening cotton crops, as floodwaters swamped the southern U.S. Every commodity was impacted, with cotton, pecans, poultry and timber the …

AccuWeather Puts Total Damage and Economic Loss From Helene at $145B to $160B

AccuWeather increased its estimate of the total damage and economic loss from Hurricane Helene to between $145 billion and $160 billion. This update is an increase from AccuWeather’s preliminary estimate late last week of total damage and economic loss of …

Hurricane Helene to Hit as Cat 3, and Early Estimates Forecast $3-$6B in Insured Losses

Hurricane Helene is expected to hit Florida as a Category 3, and a property data firm estimates that nearly 25,000 residential properties with a combined reconstruction cost value of $5.6 billion are at risk to storm surge flooding—a reinsurer estimates …

AccuWeather Says Storm Expected to Hit Gulf Coast to Become Category 3 Hurricane

A weather service said a brewing storm headed toward the Gulf Coast is expected to become “a large hurricane with a major storm surge threat and impacts that will reach hundreds of miles inland from where this storm makes landfall.” …

NHTSA Reports Decrease in Traffic Deaths: What’s Behind the Numbers?

Highway fatalities have fallen 3.2% in the first half of the year from the same period in 2023, data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows. NHTSA’s early estimates of traffic fatalities for the first half of 2024 shows …