U.S. population growth in hurricane-prone states, coupled with the increasingly heavy rainfall which accompany these storms, has generated costlier insurance claim payouts for wind and flood-caused property damage, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
“While wind speeds and storm surge in coastal areas grab headlines, inland flooding is on the rise,” the Institute said in an Issues Brief, Hurricanes: State of the Risk. “In August 2021, Hurricane Ida brought strong winds and heavy flooding to the Louisiana coast before delivering so much water to the Northeast that Philadelphia and New York City saw flooded subway stations days after the storm passed. Ida also caused a surprising death toll thousands of miles from where the storm first made landfall.”
