Hurricane Matthew May Have Caused Up to $4.5B in U.S. Property Damage

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The damage that Hurricane Matthew’s high winds and flooding wreaked on the Southeastern U.S. coast racked up a death toll of more than two dozen, and now it has a price tag, too: $3 billion to $4.5 billion.

That’s how much the damages to about 2 million insured residences are estimated to cost, according to real estate information provider CoreLogic, based in Irvine, CA. The numbers are based on a CoreLogic model, since few insurance claims, if any, have been filed so far.

Although those billions of dollars in losses may seem daunting, they are significantly less than Hurricane Katrina, which wrought $35 billion to $40 billion in damages to insured properties. Hurricane Sandy left $15 billion to $20 billion in destruction in its lethal wake.

The Weather Channel attributed 34 deaths to Matthew after it made landfall in the U.S. late last week, but other news outlets pegged the number as lower. As many as 1,000 people in Haiti died after the storm slammed into the nation on Oct. 4, according to Reuters.

In the U.S., more than a million people lost power and residents of some areas were stranded on the roofs of their homes. CoreLogic estimates that about 2 million homes were battered by the storm. About 90% of the insurance claims are expected to be from wind damage, while the other 10% are to be from storm surge flooding, according to the company.

But the majority of the damage is more likely to be broken windows than structural problems, says Tom Larsen, director of content strategy at CoreLogic. Some homes, obviously, took a more severe beating.

“The damage was very light,” he says. But in areas that were flooded, homeowners will most likely have to rip “out all the drywall, all the carpet and the electrical system.” And that ain’t cheap.

To prepare for the next storm, he recommends that aspiring homeowners purchase residences built with stronger materials to withstand natural disasters. They should also install hurricane windows, which are created to withstand strong winds, and keep their roofs watertight. This includes cleaning out roof drains to prevent leaks.

Homeowners should also take photos before a natural disaster hits so they have before and after pictures to show their insurance companies in case of a storm, says CoreLogic Senior Product Manager Laurel Di Silvestro.

“As soon as you buy a home, buy new furniture, or do new reconstruction work, take photographs,” she says. “You want documentation.”

And, unfortunately, the storms show no signs of ceasing.

“The winds are going to come,” says Larsen. “You either make your home stronger, buy insurance, or save money and pay for the damage when it comes.”

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