Hurricane Beryl caused up to $6.3 billion in insured property damage during the storm’s rampage across the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, according to an estimate released Tuesday by Moody’s.
Losses were especially steep in Texas after the Category 1 storm hit the greater Houston area July 8. Wind drove most of the damage there as opposed to flooding, which will force private insurers to pay most claims. Insurance companies generally do not cover flood damage, leaving those claims to a federal insurance program.
Beryl was a Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall south of Houston, and it quickly became a tropical storm. Even so, Beryl still carried “some of the strongest observed winds in recent history” over Houston, Moody’s analyst Jeff Waters said in a statement.
The Houston area’s high building density and “significant amount” of minor or moderate damage from Beryl led to the extensive property destruction, said Waters, Moody’s director of North Atlantic Hurricane Models.
