Limited losses from Henri in New England

The tropical storm that hit Rhode Island at the weekend has left power outages, flooded roads and disrupted travel from New Jersey to Massachusetts. More than 125,000 homes and businesses were without power on Monday morning.

The storm hit with winds of up to 60 miles per hour and is expected to bring as much as six inches of rain to the region. It was less powerful than feared, however; on Sunday morning, Henri was still a hurricane, with top winds of 75 mph.

According to hurricane and disaster modelling firm Enki Research, damage from wind, rain and storm surge could reach $1 billion. Insured losses are likely to be half that, the firm’s Chuck Watson  told Bloomberg.

Henri is the fifth storm to hit the US in 2021, and comes as the death toll from flooding further south in Tennessee  reached 22 on Sunday. Up to 17 inches of rain fell in the state in under 24 hours, breaking the previous record by more than three inches, according to the National Weather Service.

Insured losses there are likely to be limited, with standard homeowner’s insurance excluding flood coverage, which must be purchased separately through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Fewer than two percent of homeowners in Tennessee have NFIP policies, according to the Insurance Information Institute.