Hurricanes
Hurricane Debby
USA
CAT 1
04 August, 2024 Hurricane Debby formed on the 4th of August in the Gulf of Mexico, having travelled over the Antilles, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Cuba as a large system with a small core. Debby made landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida, the same location that Hurricane Idalia hit in late August last year.
At the time of its landfall in Steinhatchee, Debby was a CAT 1 storm with sustained winds of around 70mph.
The storm caused surges, flooding, and power outages. Whilst Debby slowed and was downgraded to a Tropical Storm later on August 5th, concerns remained about the impact of the heavy rains brought by the system, with peak rainfall being circa 20 inches in Lake City, Florida.
Tracking North East, Debby passed over Florida and into Georgia and then moved out to sea. It then reformed and returned to South Carolina before tracking North East through North Carolina, across Virginia and on up to Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont.
Although this storm was not considered to be severe in the sense of windspeeds, Debby’s impact has been intense, with 8 fatalities recorded as directly attributable to it.
BUSINESS INTERRUPTION COVERAGE ISSUES
- Government assistance considerations
- Prevention of access – inability to access businesses due to the closure of roads
- Property damage to local businesses
- Public utilities – damage to providers of electricity, gas, sewage, and telecommunications
- Closure of premises by public authority – closure or evacuation of Insured premises
- Losses resulting from supply chain issues.
Early involvement of the appropriate experts can help with the need for any mitigation efforts.
MDD has considerable expertise in dealing with these types of claims and the complexities that may occur. Experts like those of us at MDD will stress the need for proper audit protocols, controlling and sorting of costs and accounting for any potential saved expenses.
