Widespread flooding in Jefferson County, Texas, resulting from Tropical Storm Imelda will have caused “hundreds of millions” of dollars in damage to homes and vehicles, Aon said
The slow-moving tropical storm made landfall along the Texan coast on Tuesday before moving inland. It struck parts of eastern Texas yesterday morning, leading to major flooding, particularly in areas north and east of Houston.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott yesterday declared a state of emergency in 13 counties.
In its report, Aon noted that the worst-hit areas, many of which were also affected by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, included Beaumont, Port Arthur, Lake Jackson, Cleveland, Corrigan, Freeport, Houston, and Galveston.
Flash flooding in Winnie between Houston and Beaumont resulted in an evacuation of hundreds of people.
Aon said that the preliminary maximum rainfall total of 43.15 inches recorded from 16 September to 19 September in Jefferson County makes the storm unofficially the seventh-wettest tropical cyclone since records began in 1940, and the fourth-wettest tropical cyclone to hit Texas.
Analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggested that many of the affected areas had incurred a "500-1,000-year" rainfall event, according to Aon.
The broker also warned of additional rainfall on Friday.
It said that although the damage had not fully been assessed at this stage, the severity of the flooding made it likely that the economic cost would reach the hundreds of millions of dollars, “if not higher”.
However, the report added that a “lower-than-normal” portion of that cost would be covered by private insurance as bulk of the damage resulted from water impacts.