Hurricane Michael made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday, Oct. 10 and did quite a bit of damage. Ashlee Carpentier, the VP of Complete DKI in Pensacola, Fla., shares what they're seeing damage-wise so far, how they prepared ahead of the storm, and how the rest of the industry can help.
Here is the latest data from CoreLogic on Hurricane Michael, released just before landfall:
- According to NOAA, the current maximum sustained winds are 155mph. This is 2mph from becoming a category 5 storm.
- This is the strongest hurricane to hit the Florida Panhandle since 1900.
- This is the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. Since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
- CoreLogic damage estimates for wind and storm surge range from $2 billion to $4.5 billion. More details there below.
Expected Impact:
- Michael is a very compact storm with hurricane force winds of 155mph upon landfall, extending out 45 miles.
- Storm surge can be expected from Mobile, AL to Tampa, FL, with the maximum storm surge anticipated to be east of Panama City to coastal cities south of Tallahassee.
- This is a fast-moving storm and, as such, it does not have the same amount of rainfall associated with it as experienced with Florence or Harvey. This is not anticipated to be a large inland flooding event, but there will be localized areas of flooding.
- The loss estimate of $2B-$4.5B (includes wind and storm surge) has a breakdown of:
- $1.5B-$3B Residential
- $0.5B-$1.5B Commercial
- IMPORTANT NOTE: These estimates are based on the pre-landfall forecast. The storm has increased in strength and there is a great amount of uncertainty in these losses with respect to path of the storm and its intensity. If the storm moves westward (west of Panama City) the losses can far exceed this loss estimate because of the increased exposure.
