Hurricane Irma will likely end up as one of the five costliest hurricanes to hit the U.S., according to J. P. Morgan insurance analyst Sarah DeWitt.
DeWitt said in a research report that insured losses from Irma are estimated between $20 billion and $60 billion. However, the storm weakened faster than most experts had predicted, which may lower the costs somewhat.
“We think Hurricane Irma could be a top 5 most costly hurricane in the U.S, although the losses could be in-line-to-lower than market expectations,” she said.
The costliest hurricane in U.S. history was Katrina, which caused devastating damage to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region in 2005.
Katrina's insured damages totaled $41.1 billion and when adjusted for inflation, the current value cost of the storm was almost $50 billion, DeWitt's report said, citing data from analytics firm Property Claim Services.
Of course, Irma came shortly after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas. Losses from Harvey are expected to be about $20 billion, DeWitt said.
