Hurricane Idalia – Update 2

Hurricane Idalia strengthened to a Cat 3 hurricane and made landfall in the northern panhandle of Florida today with sustained winds of 110mph.  It is the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the Big Bend region in more than 125 years, and it briefly intensified into a CAT 4 hurricane before landfall.  The storm surge is expected to be the biggest hazard as it is thought that tide levels will be up to 15 feet above normal. The storm is expected to continue northeastward over Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

The eye of the storm is reported to be compact but expected to bring hurricane-force winds potentially into Georgia and the Carolinas. The town of Perry (population of 7,000) is in Hurricane Idalia’s path and has apparently never experienced a storm impact like this.  The predicted path of the hurricane is very rural and there are lots of old trees in its way. When Hurricane Michael landed in Mexico Beach in 2018, old trees and construction did not fare well.

Predicted Path of Hurricane Idalia

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Evacuations

Our tracking of the evacuations can be found in the Resources section on the right-hand side of this page.

Power Outages

We continue to monitor power outages throughout the affected area.  Our tracking of this information can be found in the Resources section on the right-hand side of this page.

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.