Cat modelling firm Karen Clark & Company has estimated that Hurricane Hanna will result in an insured loss of approximately $350mn.
This estimate includes privately insured wind and storm surge damage to residential, commercial and industrial properties, in addition to automobiles. However, it does not include National Flood Insurance Program losses.
The estimate has come in even lower than the minor $400mn insured losses KCC estimated for Tropical Storm Fay, after it struck North Carolina earlier this month.
Hanna brought heavy rainfall to southern Texas when it made landfall over the weekend and has left over 200,000 Americans in the state without power.
Mexico’s Rio Grande Valley sustained low-to-moderate levels of wind damage due to the hurricane, and “damage to signage and lightweight structures, such as gas station pavilions and marinas, were relatively common", KCC said.
Additionally, the hurricane has also caused roof and siding damage in some instances, and more severe structural damage in a few cases, KCC noted.
The coastal towns of Corpus Christi, Port Mansfield, McAllen and others have been hit by storm surge flooding to residential and commercial buildings in recent days.
Hanna, the first hurricane and the fourth US landfalling storm of the 2020 North Atlantic hurricane season, made landfall with 90 mph maximum sustained winds on Padre Island, Texas, on 25 July around 11:00 BST.
It formed as a tropical storm on 23 July as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico, before tracking towards the Texas coast.
“Warm sea surface temperatures and a low wind shear environment allowed the storm to reach hurricane strength just before landfall on Padre Island in southern Texas on July 25,” KCC noted in its flash estimate of the hurricane's losses.
The storm travelled southwest and weakened considerably as a result of land interaction with the mountainous terrain in the area, and by 26 July, it had weakened into a tropical storm as it crossed into Mexico.