Initial Michael losses estimated at $2-4.5 billion

Losses from Hurricane Michael could be between $2 billion and $4.5 billion, according to CoreLogic estimates.

Michael made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane along the Florida Panhandle coast on October 10 and inflicted severe damage on the coast and inland areas from high winds and storm surge.

Corelogic said that the total loss estimate is broken down into $1.5 billion-$3 billion in residential losses and $0.5 billion-$1.5 billion in commercial losses. The estimates are based on the pre-landfall forecast.

According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the maximum sustained winds of Hurricane Michael were at 155mph, 2mph short from becoming a category 5 storm. Michael is the strongest hurricane to hit the Florida Panhandle since 1900 and the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the US since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, CoreLogic pointed out.

Storm surge damage can be expected from Mobile, Alabama to Tampa, Florida, with the maximum storm surge anticipated to be east of Panama City to coastal cities south of Tallahassee, CoreLogic said.

According to Corelogic as Michael is a fast-moving storm it does not have the same amount of rainfall associated with it as experienced with Florence or Harvey. This is not anticipated to be a large inland flooding event, but there will be localised areas of flooding.