AIR estimates Wilma damages at $6 billion to $9 billion

Catastrophe risk modeling company AIR Worldwide Corporation estimates U.S. insured losses from Hurricane Wilma will be between $6 billion and $9 billion. Wilma strengthened overnight and made landfall at 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 24 at Cape Romano, Florida, as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph.As a Category 3 storm, Wilma was significantly less intense than August’s Hurricane Katrina, a strong Category 4 hurricane that flooded much of New Orleans. In addition to Wilma’s lower wind speeds and fast forward speed of near 23 mph, the lower vulnerability of structures in Florida will lead to insured losses well below those of Katrina.”The building code in south Florida is the most stringent in the U.S. and far more rigorous than in the parts of the Gulf Coast affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” Dr. Jayanta Guin, AIR vice president of research and modeling, said in a press release. “Our detailed analysis of claims data from the 2004 season showed that Florida’s stronger codes led to less damage than would normally be expected had the storms hit a more vulnerable area of the coast, as reflected in our model.”AIR says the largest driver of losses will be the concentration of properties on Florida’s east coast between West Palm Beach and Miami. “AIR estimates that there is more than $500 billion of insured properties in Miami-Dade and Broward counties alone,” said Dr. Guin. “Based on Wilma’s large size hurricane-force winds extend about 90 miles from the center we expect to see widespread, though less severe, damage on Florida’s east coast.”