Ida highlights how much work is yet to be done to fill insurance gaps

Hurricane Ida, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm near Port Fourchon, Louisiana on August 29, is expected to be one of the costliest US mainland hurricanes on record with total direct economic losses anticipated to reach well into the tens of billions dollars. The event, coupled with recent subsequent natural disasters, have thrown insurance protection gaps into the spotlight once again.

Ida caused extensive wind, storm surge and inland flood damage across the Southeast before its remnants later resulted in exceptional flash flood damage and convective storm impacts in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on September 1.

While a sizeable portion of the economic damage due to coastal and inland flooding was not expected to be insured, public and private insurance entities were still likely to have exposures into the double-digit billions dollars, according to Aon's latest Global Catastrophe Recap report.

Meanwhile, a major and deadly earthquake struck the Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti on August 14, killing at least 2,207 people and injuring 12,268 others. The magnitude-7.2 tremor struck with an epicenter 13 kilometers (8 miles) south-southeast of Petit Trou de Nippes. The tremor left nearly 140,000 structures damaged or destroyed in the Sud, Nippes, and Grand’Anse Departments alone. Government officials unofficially estimated $3 billion in economic damage, with most losses uninsured.

Steve Bowen, managing director and head of Catastrophe Insight on the Impact Forecasting team at Aon, said: “As larger-scale disasters occur with more intensity and subsequently result in greater impacts, this has put a spotlight on areas where gaps lie in humanitarian and insurance protection. This is true regardless of whether a country is identified as developed or emerging."

"Hurricane Ida’s catastrophic impacts in the United States highlighted how much work is yet to be done to better insure around inland and coastal flooding," he added. "An even greater gap is found in Haiti following the major earthquake that once again has the country facing a challenging recovery. How governmental bodies work with private sector groups to improve hazard protection and aim to better and more smartly rebuild will be key to lowering future natural peril risk.”