It has been little over a week since Hurricane Harvey made landfall along the Texas coastline as a Category 4 storm. Since that time, parts of Texas and Louisiana have been inundated with flood waters as Harvey continues to wreak havoc. Hurricane Harvey was the first Category 3-plus storm, a “major hurricane,” to make landfall in the United States since Hurricane Wilma impacted our South Florida community in October 2005. For that storm, the National Hurricane Center estimated that property damage alone exceeded $20 billion, see Tropical Cyclone Report, Hurricane Wilma (12 Jan. 2006). Current estimates for Hurricane Harvey damage already greatly exceed that figure, and the estimates keep climbing.
With damage and lost income estimates running into the billions, Hurricane Harvey serves as a staunch reminder for South Florida individual and commercial policyholders. Insureds should review their insurance policies now to determine whether they have adequate insurance coverage in place in preparation for Hurricane Irma—a storm the National Hurricane Center calls a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.”
