Hurricane Irma has moved on. The winds have died down. The waters have receded. The lights are back on.
Barreling through the Caribbean as a Category 5 monster — resulting in 42 storm-related deaths — Irma also knocked out power for millions and did billions of dollars’ worth of damage to Florida on September 10.
Just one week after the hurricane’s rampage through the state, storm-related insurance claims filed had already reached an estimated $2 billion in losses, according to Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation. The final totals will likely range from $20 to $40 billion, according to an estimate from catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide. The company estimated that exposure value in counties running along the Gulf Coast up to Tampa — the area hit hardest in the U.S. — would reach $1 trillion…read more