Losses from Hurricane Francine are expected to be manageable for insurers

Losses from Hurricane Francine are expected to be manageable for property/casualty insurers, with major population centers protected from the storm’s worst damage.

Privately insured losses from Hurricane Francine are estimated at nearly $1.5 billion, catastrophe modeler Karen Clark & ​​Co. said.

Moody’s Ratings said Francine’s insurance losses would be manageable. Primary insurers will retain most of the losses from the hurricane, the rating agency said, adding that the hardest hit will be regionally oriented carriers.

Related: Estimates put US Francine damage and losses at $9 billion, with $1.5 billion in insured losses

Francine made landfall in Terrebonne Parrish around 5:30 PM CST on September 11 as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph before weakening to a tropical storm on the morning of September 12 as it passed through Mississippi . The storm hit well west of New Orleans, which avoided damaging winds. If New Orleans had sustained wind damage, Francien would have resulted in a much larger loss event, KCC said.

Louisiana, Terrebonne, Lafourche and Plaquemines parishes saw storm surges of more than 4 feet along their coasts.

Moody’s expects a significant portion of losses along the Louisiana coast to be absorbed by Louisiana Citizens, the state-sponsored insurer of last resort. Louisiana Citizens does not offer flood insurance.

Related: Francine knocks out power for hundreds of thousands in the South

Industry rating agency AM Best said it expects the majority of losses from Hurricane Francine to be borne by primary insurers, given a shift to larger reinsurance attachments. AM Best said the storm is considered more of a flood event than a wind event.

Best’s comment, Growing Gulf Coast-focused insurers face key tests in Hurricane Francine, noted that there could be areas of concentration where insurers with a higher reliance on reinsurance could see a greater impact.

Francine is the sixth hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana in the past five years.

Top photo: Houma, Louisiana on the evening of 9/11.