As the Wind Blows? Understanding Hurricane Damages at the Local Level through a Case Study Analysis

An understanding of the potential drivers of local-scale hurricane losses is developed through a case study analysis. Two recent category-3 U.S. landfalling hurricanes (Ivan in 2004 and Dennis in 2005) are analyzed that, although similar in terms of maximum wind speed at their proximate coastal landfall locations, caused vastly different loss amounts. In contrast to existing studies that assess loss mostly at the relatively aggregate level, detailed local factors related to hazard, exposure, and vulnerability are identified. State-level raw wind insured loss data split by personal, commercial, and auto business lines are downscaled to the census tract level using the wind field. At this scale, losses are found to extend far inland and across business lines. Storm size is found to play an important role in explaining the different loss amounts by controlling not only the size of the impacted area but also the duration of damaging winds and the likelihood of large changes in wind direction. An empirical analysis of census tract losses provides further evidence for the importance of wind duration and wind directional change in addition to wind speed. The importance of exposure values however is more sensitive to assumptions in how loss data are downscaled. Appropriate consideration of these local drivers of hurricane loss may improve historical loss assessments and may also act upscale to impact future projections of hurricane losses under climate and socioeconomic change.