Hurricane Irma may have caused between $42.5 billion and $65 billion in wind and flood damage to residential and commercial property, according to a preliminary estimate.
Irma hit the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane before losing strength last week. Even as a tropical storm, it wreaked havoc on the Southeast. The massive storm flooded some cities, including Charleston, South Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida.
Irma is estimated to have caused $25 billion to $38 billion in flood loss to homes, according to CoreLogic, a property information, analytics and solutions provider. Between $20 billion and $30 billion, or 80 percent, of that damage is likely not covered by any flood insurance.
CoreLogic estimates between $5 billion and $8 billion, or one-quarter of the residential flood damage, is covered by the National Flood Insurance Program. The program provides more than 98 percent of flood insurance for homes in the U.S., according to the report.
Wind is estimated to have caused $13.5 billion to $19 billion of the total damage to residential and commercial property, CoreLogic said. Of that, an estimated $11 billion to $15 billion represents residential loss. Private insurers usually cover such damage, the report said.
For commercial properties, insured flood loss is estimated between $4 billion and $8 billion, CoreLogic said. Data for uninsured damage is not available, but it could equal or exceed the insured number, the report said.
Wind is expected to have caused between $2.5 billion and $4 billion in commercial loss, according to CoreLogic.