Hurricane Bill has lost his identity, petering out somewhere in the North Atlantic; but he led the headlines last weekend as he threatened the maritime provinces.

For those of us who were around in the final decade of the last millennium (remember way back to the 90’s??), such events evoke memories of Hurricane Andrew, the first named and only major hurricane to hit the US east coast in 1992.

What all started with a tropical wave off the coast of Africa on August 14^th, hit the Bahamas 9 days later, making landfall in Florida on August 25^th packing winds of 266 km/hr.

Andrew was the costliest hurricane in US history, until eclipsed by Katrina (and her 2 ugly sisters, Rita and Wilma) in 2005.  Consider:

• 80,000 homes were badly damaged or destroyed, leaving 180,000 residents homeless.
• 80% of farms badly damaged.
• over $US30 billion in total damage, $US16 billion in insured losses (1992 dollar values).

Amazingly, the catastrophe resulted directly in only 26 deaths, with another 39 fatalities indirectly linked to the storm.

State Farm and Allstate suffered the heaviest losses, but were strong enough to withstand the stress; however, 11 other insurance companies failed as a result.

Question – So if a close relative of Andrew or Bill hits Canada, will Canadian insurers have the financial strength to respond?

Like in the US experience, depending on severity and location, many front-line insurers will withstand the strain – but some might not.  The trick is to be protected by having wisely selected the insurer that will provide the necessary shelter.  But when the storm hits, it’s too late to re-think that decision.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Property. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.