Natural catastrophes

21.10, Hurricane Ike

US: a preliminary estimate released by the Harris County Housing Authority showed that Hurricane “Ike” damaged $8.5bn worth of homes, apartments and mobile homes in the Texas county. The hurricane wrought the most damage in the Houston area. The damage estimate was based on reports of assessment teams which inspected over 126,000 properties in Harris County a few days after “Ike” hit the region on Sep 13. A risk modelling company in California, Eqecat, placed the damage at between $8.0bn to $12.0bn on commercial and residential properties hit by “Ike”. Over 76,000 damage claims have been filed with windstorm insurers.