We Make You Insurance Smart

For the insurance industry, the New Year can''t come soon enough.

It was just twelve short months ago that many P&C carriers had been lulled into complacency after the dire predictions of more frequent natural disasters in 2006 and 2007 failed to materialize. In fact, those two years offered a much needed respite after the record insurance losses from Katrina in 2005.

But then enter 2008. And nature''s wrath provides a steady stream of natural disasters for the United States.

April -- Hailstorms pummel the greater Fort Worth, Texas area, resulting in insured losses in excess of $200 million. The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) estimated that hail the size of golf balls, baseballs and softballs was responsible for 33,000 homeowner claims and 21,000 automobile claims.
August -- Hurricane Gustav strikes Louisiana and causes $1.8 billion in insured losses in that state, arising from 245,000 claims (ISO estimates).
August - Tropical Storm Fay, which was originally forecast to strike Florida''s west coast just south of Tampa and St. Petersburg, fails to reach Category 1 hurricane status, but ends up making landfall a record 4 times. It causes major flooding damage to thousands of homes and businesses.
September -- Hurricane Ike strikes the Galveston area and becomes the fifth-and third major-hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. Insured losses were estimated at between $13-21 billion, of which $10-15 billion was estimated for wind and storm surge in Texas and Louisiana (RMS estimates).
October - Governor Schwarzenegger declares a state of emergency as the Marek wildfire burns in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, billowed by Santa Anna winds. Up to that point in time, 26,800 acres have burned in California, and 64 structures have been destroyed. But that was just the beginning...
November - two new intense fires -- the Sayre Fire and the Triangle Complex Fire -- spread from Santa Barbara to Southeast Los Angeles and destroy 950 homes, ranging from multi-million-dollar mansions to more modest mobile homes.
Interesting to note, it was not until halfway through the year that one forecasting agency changed its prediction that Atlantic-basin and land-falling hurricane activity in the U.S. in 2008 would increase to 90 percent above the norm over the past 60 years. So much for predictions.


Added on: Mon Dec 15, 2008 4:03 pm by : masteris009