Texas has been crippled by severe cold and snow since last Sunday, causing massive power outages, frozen pipes, factory shutdowns and people suffering from icy or collapsed homes. Some agencies assess that insurance companies may suffer record losses in the first quarter, up to $18 billion.
Texas suffers major losses due to rare snowstorm
Reuters reported that insurance industry credit rating agency A.M. Best reported that historically, Texas’ first quarter disaster losses were not severe, and now the blizzard could become the most expensive winter weather compensation event in Texas history. A spokesman for disaster assessment softwares Karen Clark & Co. said the company predicts $18 billion in property damage insurance costs for Texas and other states.
Ben Gonzalez, a spokesman for The Texas Department of Insurance, said it would collect from insurers for grid outages, roof collapses, broken pipes and other problems to assess the costs incurred, as it does for other major disasters such as hurricanes. “It’s going to be a big event, and we don’t know how big yet.”
Camille Garcia, a spokeswoman for the Texas Insurance Commission, said Thursday that the state’s insurers expect to face thousands of dollars in damages and that losses of any size are covered by the claims.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, for his part, has confirmed that all power plants were back in operation as of the afternoon of the 18th and urged lawmakers to pass legislation to ensure the grid is prepared for future cold damage.
Recent Comments