Hurricane Harvey Losses to Cost Insurers Nearly $1 Billion Dollars
The damage done by Hurricane Harvey was unprecedented and catastrophic. Insurance companies will be reeling for quite some time, particularly since Harvey was followed by massive damages from Hurricane Irma in Florida. According to a recent story in the Dallas Morning News, Allstate’s losses alone are expected to reach at least $593 million dollars.
Allstate is the third-largest insurer in Texas. More than half of Allstate’s losses from Hurricane Harvey are from vehicle damage. It is estimated that more claims may still be forthcoming.
"Given the complexity of this event, we may experience a higher level of uncertainty in our estimates due to the inability of our customers to gain access to their homes and autos and submit claims," the company told the Dallas Morning News.
Other insurers are experiencing similarly large claims as well. Progressive, the second-largest auto insurer in Texas, reported that Harvey accounted for 90 percent of its $254 million dollar losses in August.
Farmers Insurance stated that it had received 40,000 claims so far, totaling $500 million dollars. Farmers expects to eventually receive a total of 60,000 claims.
The losses to Progressive, Allstate, and Farmers alone total nearly $1 billion. Several other insurers are also active in the state of Texas.
State Farm is Texas’ largest insurer, but the company doesn’t generally release loss projections. However, they reported paying out $230 million in Harvey-related auto claims so far, $223 million of which went to Texans.