Sasser Restoration Can Help Before & After A Natural Disaster
Natural disasters occur year round throughout our country, and it’s our job to be the experts in times of catastrophic losses. Whether your business has been damaged by hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, or fires, Sasser Restoration is the team that you can trust to restore your business.
You may ask why emergency preparedness matters or think that the likelihood of a natural disaster impacting your business operations is unlikely, but the numbers say otherwise. Let’s take a deep dive into the incurred losses filed by companies as a result of natural disasters.
Property Claim Services (PCS®), a Verisk Analytics® business, defines a catastrophe as a natural or man-made event that causes $25 million or more in insured property losses and affects a significant number of property/casualty (P/C) policyholders and insurers.
Moody’s Investors Service estimates that P/C insurers posted $5 billion in coronavirus related claims and another $12.8 billion in weather related catastrophes, compared to $9.5 billion in 2020. Only a quarter of the way into 2021 and AIR Worldwide has put a $10 billion estimate on one catastrophe— Winter Storm Uri that froze Texas.
According to the Insurance Information Institute, North Carolina was the third highest state with estimated insured losses in 2018 with $$4,962.1 million dollars and 433,775 claims. California and Florida were the two states ranked above North Carolina. Some of the top ranking disasters that are the culprits of these claims are hurricanes, flooding, fires, tornadoes and severe thunderstorms.
Hurricanes
A typical year has 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes. However, in 2020 there were 13 hurricanes whose winds topped 74 mph and of those 13, 6 were deemed major hurricanes with winds reaching over 111mph. Nine of the ten costliest hurricanes have struck since 2004, showing the increasing trend of damaging hurricanes.
Hurricanes will lead to flood damage which can escalate these insured losses. According to National Geographic, floods are responsible for an average of $6 billion in damages annually. Places like Florida, the Gulf Coast, and Texas are vulnerable to flooding especially after a significant hurricane like we saw with Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
Fires and Wildfires
The National Interagency Fire Center detailed that there were approximately 57,000 wildfires by the end of 2020. This is in comparison to the 50,477 wildfires that were documented in 2019. The majority of wildfires take place in California where 5 of the top 20 California fires happened in 2020.
These fires resulted in billions of dollars in damages. Aon reports that the LNU Lightning Complex Fire spanned five counties and resulted in $2 billion in insured losses. Additionally, the Glass Fire caused $2.9 billion in insured losses.
The National Fire Protection Association reports that in 2019, local fire departments responded to 1,291,500 fires in 2019 which resulted in $14.8 billion in property damage. This is in comparison to structural fires that caused $11.1 billion in property damage in 2018, up 3.7 percent from the 2017 loss of $10.7 billion.
With every 24 seconds that pass, a fire department is responding to a fire somewhere in the nation.
Tornadoes and Thunderstorms
The Insurance Information Institute reports that there were 1,065 tornadoes in 2020 and that these convective storms are the most common and damaging natural catastrophes in the United States.
Although experts cannot say that these storms are increasing, it is clear that the damages are increasing, likely due to the increase in population growth and economic development. 2020 was a record breaking year in the insured losses as Aon estimates that it will reach $36 billion whereas the previous record was $32 billion in 2011.
What Can We Do About It?
Sasser Restoration can help your business prepare for future natural disasters that pose a threat to your business operations. Through Sasser’s Green Light Priority Response program, our teams will get to know your facilities and standard operating procedures, develop a response protocol unique to your situation and monitor impending natural disasters and stand ready to respond 24/7, 365.
Call today for more information on Sasser Restoration’s Green Light Priority Response program and learn how we can help bring your building back to life.
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