EQECAT revises Sandy insured losses estimate; now between $10 billion and $20 billion

Catastrophe modeler EQECAT Inc. revised its loss estimates Thursday for Superstorm Sandy in the United States, estimating insured losses of between $10 billion and $20 billion, and total economic damages of between $30 billion and $50 billion.

The firm’s pre-landfall estimate for the storm, issued on Oct. 29, was about $5 billion in insured damages, with total economic damages of about $10 billion.

“The large electric and utility losses will trigger significantly more insured losses (business interruption) than were expected from a more typical category 1 storm,” EQECAT noted. Subway outages and remaining “unknowns” have also affected the company’s estimates.

Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimated Oct. 30 that insured losses to onshore properties in the United States will be between $7 billion and $15 billion.