The severe snowstorm that hit the Northeast last week is likely to cost insurers billions of dollars – much more than 2012’s Hurricane Sandy – and experts are now confirming the blizzard was amonth the worst the area has ever seen.
According to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the storm rated a 7.66 on the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale, which tracks storms based on inches of snowfall, geographic reach and people affected.
The blizzard lasted from Friday, January 22 to Sunday, January 24 and affected 102.8 million people, covering 434,000 square miles in 26 states. All told, 24 million people experienced more than 20 inches of snow during the storm and 1.5 million got more than 30 inches.
That makes this blizzard the fourth worst storm the East Coast has seen since 1950.
“This storm ranks up there with the great blizzards of the past 100 years in terms of amount of snowfall, size of impacted areas and population affected,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Kocin.
Insurers are already paying out for damages.
"The storm surge and pounding waves caused considerable water damage to homes, businesses, beaches and coastal infrastructure," global reinsurance firm
Aon Benfield said in a statement released Jan. 24.
“When combining the actual physical damage to residential and commercial properties, plus automobiles and infrastructure, and adding business interruption losses, we're potentially looking at one of the costlier winter storm events in recent memory,” added Steven Bowen, meteorologist for Aon Benfield.
Although wind and snow-related damage are typically covered under standard home insurance plans, flood damage is not as universally covered, the Insurance Information Institute pointed out. This could mean homeowners without flood coverage from either a private insurer or the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Flood Insurance Program will have to pay personally for any damage.
