Irene's Fury

Hurricane Irene's furious journey up the East Coast is showing no signs of letting up, and experts are now claiming that it could possibly cause the worst damage the region has suffered in more than 50 years. The financial brunt would be shouldered by the insurance companies. Shares in three major insurers dropped over 3 percent on Thursday when the hurricane warnings began to get more severe. These are Travelers TRV, Allstate ALL, and Chubb CB. Fox Business reported that, “The forecasts are grim, and if the beast hits as hard as some predict she could cause billions of dollars in damages. AccuWeather expert senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said the impacts on “lives, property, commerce and travel will be serious” if Irene continues on her dangerous route northward.” The fears are justified. The storm is 400 miles wide, and so it doesn't need to hit directly to cause serious damage. With the insurance companies already paying out a lot of late due to natural disasters, this is really all they need. Local authorities are still, at the time writing, deciding whether to proceed with mandatory evacuations. Coastal areas are having problems convincing surfers to leave, when they would rather play in the huge waves. Fox Business said that, “Catastrophe losses in 2005 totaled $66.1 billion from 24 disasters, with a majority of $43.6 billion estimated to have stemmed from the 1.75 million claims related to Katrina, according to Congressional Research Service.”