As Hurricane Delta inches closer to making landfall in Louisiana on Friday, the storm is poised to cause property damage to 293,685 single-family and multifamily homes across Louisiana and the U.S. Gulf Coast, according to an analysis by CoreLogic. The property analytics provider anticipates those homes amassing a reconstruction cost value (RCV) of about $62.85 billion, based on the hurricane’s projected Category 2 status at landfall.
Estimates were calculated based on the National Hurricane Center’s forecasts from October 7 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
“After battering the Yucatán Peninsula near Cancún, Mexico, Hurricane Delta is headed for the Gulf Coast just weeks after Hurricane Laura brought significant wind and storm surge damage to the Texas and Louisiana coastlines,” Curtis McDonald, meteorologist and senior product manager of CoreLogic, said in the company’s report. “Residents in these coastal areas are already trying to recover from their losses and are now faced with a second substantial storm. This season has been relentless, and Louisianans should be prepared for the long recovery road ahead.”
The New Orleans-Metairie metro area is expected to bear the brunt of the storm with 54,385 homes at risk of $13.52 billion in RCV damage in the event of a Category 2 storm. If the hurricane intensifies to a Category 3 storm, however, those numbers could increase significantly to 347,061 homes incurring $87.78 billion in damage.
The most severe threats as Hurricane Delta makes landfall will be storm surge and damaging winds, according to CoreLogic’s report. The storm’s rapid velocity should limit catastrophic inland flooding, although heavy rainfall is expected.
As the hurricane season continues, CoreLogic catastrophe and weather experts predict the season will be more active than years past due to warmer oceanic temperatures. In turn, a more severe hurricane season will put homeowners and property service companies at financial risk, not to mention potentially uprooting families and businesses.
To see the most up-to-date estimates on storm surge exposure, visit CoreLogic’s natural hazard risk information center, Hazard HQ.
