Harvey, Irma expected to be equally costly

The hurricanes that have dominated the news during the past two weeks are expected to generate insured losses in the neighborhood of $18 to $19 billion.

The nation’s largest state insurance trade association estimates insured losses from Harvey at nearly $19 billion — and that doesn’t count damage not covered by insurance.

The Insurance Council of Texas says windstorm and other claims from Harvey will be worth nearly $3 billion. Approximately 250,000 damaged cars and commercial vehicles will trigger another $4.75 billion in insurance claims.

The council cites the Federal Emergency Management Agency in estimating that Harvey’s flooding will result in $11 billion in payments to homeowners with flood insurance. Those flood losses would be the second highest on record, trailing only Hurricane Katrina’s $16 billion.

Harvey battered Texas’ Gulf Coast and flooded a vast area stretching from Houston to the Louisiana border. The storm caused 70-plus deaths and damaged or destroyed more than 250,000 homes.

Meanwhile, insured losses from Hurricane Irma could total $18 billion in the U.S., far less than anticipated

when the storm was barreling toward Florida’s east coast as a Category 4 monster but still among the nation’s worst.

Karen Clark and Co., a Boston firm that analyzes risk, estimated total losses, including in the Caribbean, at $25 billion. Florida accounts for most of the $18 billion in the U.S., followed by Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.

The estimate covers damage to buildings and their contents, other insured structures, and vehicles and the disruption to business. It does not include crop losses or losses covered by the nation’s flood insurance program, Clark said.