Insured Losses from Winter Freeze Could Hit $18 Billion

A City of Austin worker surveys a recently mended water pipe after it froze in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 18, 2021. (Photo: Thomas Ryan Allison/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) — Crippled by a winter storm, Texas and other states are becoming a hotbed of insurance claims, with analysts expecting a hefty bill for losses.

Insured losses could hit $18 billion for the winter weather, six times the yearly average, according to Karen Clark, whose firm models catastrophes. In Texas, one of the worst-affected regions, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. has already seen as many claims because of frozen pipes in that state as it had across the U.S. all of last year, according to a spokesman for the state’s biggest home insurer. USAA said it’s received more than 20,000 claims tied to the weather, and the Insurance Council of Texas said it expects hundreds of thousands of claims from vehicles, homes, businesses and renters.