AUGUST 2016
- Connecticut was one of over a dozen states impacted by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. Sandy caused $18.75 billion in U.S. property losses, excluding flood insurance claims covered by the federal flood insurance program, according to estimates from ISO’s PCS unit. This would make Sandy the third most costly U.S. hurricane, after hurricanes Katrina and Andrew.
- Sandy resulted in $500 million in private insurance claims in Connecticut. At $9.6 billion and $6.3 billion, respectively, New York and New Jersey suffered the largest private insurance losses by far from Sandy.
- In September 2011 President Obama declared that a major disaster existed in the state of Connecticut in the wake of August 2011’s Hurricane Irene, the first hurricane to hit the U.S. since Hurricane Ike in 2008. Irene impacted 14 states, causing a total of $4.3 billion in insured property damage, not including flood losses covered under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), according to ISO. The NFIP puts its claims payouts from Irene at $1.3 billion (in all states).
- The 1938 Great New England Hurricane of 1938 was one of the costliest storms to hit the area. The hurricane, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm during high tide along Long Island, New York and the Connecticut coast, caused extensive damage to those states as well as to Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The storm caused a total of 600 deaths, 1,700 injuries and over $400 million in damages, according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. An analysis by Karen Clark and Company estimates that the storm would have caused $38 billion in insurance damages had it occurred under present conditions.
- There were 40,660 flood insurance policies in Connecticut in 2015. Standard homeowner’s policies typically do not cover flood damage. Flood insurance is covered by the National Flood Insurance Program.
- The insured value of properties in coastal areas of Connecticut totaled $567.8 billion in 2013, accounting for 65 percent of the state’s total insured property exposure, according to an analysis by AIR Worldwide.
- Connecticut’s FAIR Plan, a residual market plan that acts as a market of last resort for property insurance was established in 1968. The FAIR Plan administers the state’s Coastal Market Assistance Program (C-MAP). C-MAP was created by insurers in the state to assist homeowners living in Connecticut coastal areas who have been unable to obtain insurance.
- The Connecticut FAIR Plan had $487 million in exposure in fiscal year 2015, down from $533 million in 2014. Total policies in the plan amounted to 2,618 in 2015, down from 2,882 in 2014.
- Population growth from 2010 to 2015 in coastal New England counties ranged from 3.6 percent in Massachusetts to 1.6 percent in New Hampshire, 0.3 percent in Rhode Island and Connecticut, and 0.4 percent in Maine, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Other Resources
I.I.I. Facts & Stats: Flood Insurance
I.I.I. Facts & Stats: Hurricanes
I.I.I. Issues Updates: Catastrophes
I.I.I. Issues Updates: Hurricane and Windstorm Deductibles
