Florence is expected to rank among the top 10 costliest hurricanes ever

KEY POINTS

• AccuWeather founder and president and chairman Joel Myers estimated the costs from Hurricane Florence will be about $30 billion.
• The catastrophic combination of heavy rains and a severe storm surge are making the storm more dangerous than ever.

Waves crash around the Oceana Pier as the outer edges of Hurricane Florence being to affect the coast September 13, 2018 in Atlantic Beach, United States. Coastal cities in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virgnian are under evacuation orders as the Category 2 hurricane approaches the United States. 

Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

The National Hurricane Center lowered Hurricane Florence to Category 2 on Thursday, but the catastrophic combination of heavy rain and a severe storm surge are making the storm more dangerous than ever.

With Florence nearing landfall, AccuWeather founder and president and chairman Joel Myers estimated the costs from the storm will be at least $30 billion, and as much as $60 billion, placing it easily within the top 10 costliest in U.S. history.

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Early estimates from J.P. Morgan project Florence's estimated industry-insured losses at $8 billion to $20 billion, which still would rank it high historically.

"This would make Hurricane Florence one of the top 10 most costly hurricanes to hit the U.S. We think this would likely result in losses that are slightly less than one-quarter's worth of earnings for the commercial (re)insurers we cover," J.P. Morgan analyst Sarah DeWitt said in a note Monday.