Hurricane Florence's flooding and wind destruction affected about 700,000 residential and commercial properties across North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, according to CoreLogic's latest estimates.
While the mortgage delinquency rate
Worst-case projections estimate a total of $28.5 billion in storm surge and inland flooding losses, plus an additional $1.5 billion in wind damage. Of the surge and flooding losses, an estimated $18.5 billion are uninsured.
"The uninsured losses make up such a large share of the total — a greater percentage than Hurricane Harvey last year — because Florence is primarily a flood event, and insurance coverage for flood is limited, especially on the residential side," David Smith, senior director of model development at CoreLogic, said in a statement to National Mortgage News.
"Flood insurance is only mandatory for homes with mortgages that are located within FEMA's special flood hazard areas (SFHAs) — essentially 100-year flood zones. Many of the homes impacted by Florence's floods are outside of these areas, and some of the homes within the SFHAs don't carry mortgages."
North Carolina bore the brunt of the storm and holds the majority of the estimated damage. About 80% of both residential and commercial properties and losses lie in the Tar Heel State, with South Carolina accounting for close to the remaining 20%.
In advance of the storm hitting,