Hurricane Beryl formed on the evening of 28 June, quickly becoming a hurricane on 29 June and strengthening into a major hurricane the following day. On 1 July, Beryl passed through the Windward Islands as a Category 4 hurricane and later that day became a Category 5 hurricane, the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic. On the morning of 2 July, Beryl reached its peak intensity with 165 mph sustained winds before beginning to weaken later in the day due to increasing wind shear.
Despite encountering favourable conditions for intensification, Beryl’s imperfect structure limited its strength, making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near Matagorda Bay, Texas at around 4 a.m. CDT on 8 July, with estimated maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and a central pressure of 979 mb. The storm then tracked north as it moved inland.
Beryl caused widespread and prolonged power outages in Texas, affecting nearly 3 million households, with more than 2.2 million in Harris County alone. These outages are expected to drive significant claims due to food spoilage, mould, and losses related to additional living expenses and business interruption coverages. Heavy rainfall resulted in flooded roadways and homes throughout the Houston area and portions of western Louisiana. Wind damage included broken windows and tree damage to residential and apartment complexes.
Verisk’s loss estimates exclude several significant factors. Firstly, they do not account for excess impacts due to power failures or losses resulting from storm surge. Additionally, any losses paid out by the National Flood Insurance Program are not included.
The estimates also omit losses exacerbated by litigation or social inflation. Storm surge leakage losses, which are paid on wind-only policies due to government intervention, are also excluded. Furthermore, losses from precipitation-induced flooding do not form part of these estimates.
Losses to various marine categories such as inland marine, ocean-going marine cargo and hull, and pleasure boats are not considered. Uninsured properties and infrastructure are similarly excluded from the estimates.
Extra-contractual obligations, hazardous waste cleanup, vandalism, and civil commotion are also not part of Verisk’s calculations. Loss adjustment expenses and other non-modelled losses, including those resulting from tornadoes spawned by the storm, are omitted.
Lastly, losses for U.S. offshore assets and non-U.S. property are not included in the estimates.
