Insured Losses from Hanna Expected to be Low
as posted at www.claimsmag.com
By Patrick Stevenson
September 10, 2008
Insured losses resulting from Tropical Storm Hanna are expected to be insignificant, according to AIR Worldwide.
According to a Guy Carpenter Instrat report, Tropical Storm Hanna made landfall at around 3:20 a.m. EST on Sept. 8 near the border between North and South Carolina, packing sustained winds of about 60 mph. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), l andfall position was approximately 25 miles west - northwest of Wilmington, North Carolina and approximately 150 miles northeast of Charleston, South Carolina. On making landfall, Hanna moved quickly through eastern North Carolina and continued on a north-eastern track through the eastern mid-Atlantic states on the evening of the Sept. 6, local time. Hanna lost tropical characteristics as it moved through New England on the Sept. 7 at around 5 :00 p.m. EST.
Reports said that Hanna caused heavy rain and strong winds to coastal areas as it tracked up the eastern U.S. coast and threatened storm surge flooding of between 1–3 feet above normal tide levels in the Bays.
Before making landfall in the United States, Tropical Storm Hanna caused widespread devastation in Haiti, mainly as a result of flooding. The official death toll from Hanna currently stands at 170 people, of whom 167 died in Haiti, 2 died in Puerto Rico and 1 died in the Dominican Republic.
According to Science Daily, Hanna formed near the Leeward Islands from the eighth tropical depression of the 2008 hurricane season. Observed by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite to contain a deep and intense thunderstorm tower on Sept. 1 (often a precursor to intensification), it subsequently strengthened briefly into a hurricane before weakening under the influence of vertical wind shear (winds that can weaken or tear a tropical cyclone apart). On Sept. 3 and 4 Hanna was pounding the Bahamas with heavy rains and tropical storm force winds, according to the National Hurricane Center .
