Insured losses from Hurricane Melissa’s strike on Jamaica are estimated to be between $2.2 billion and $4.2 billion, according to data analytics firm Verisk.
The Category 5 hurricane made landfall in southwestern Jamaica last week, marking the Caribbean nation’s strongest-ever storm to directly hit its shores and the first major hurricane since 1988.
Verisk’s Extreme Event Solutions unit reported that most of the projected losses resulted from wind damage, with flooding caused by heavy rainfall also contributing significantly. Montego Bay, a major tourist destination, sustained considerable damage.
The event underscores the increasing pressure that extreme weather events, intensified by climate change, are placing on the insurance industry. Frequent and severe natural disasters are driving up claims, straining underwriting results, and forcing insurers to re-evaluate risk models and pricing strategies.
Verisk, headquartered in New Jersey, primarily serves property and casualty insurers, providing catastrophe modelling and predictive analytics to support risk assessment and policy pricing.