By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian insurer yesterday predicted the industry is unlikely to receive more than $4m in combined claims from property owners who suffered damage in last Friday’s eastern New Providence storm.

Anton Saunders, RoyalStar Assurance’s managing director, told Tribune Business that total claims exceeding this sum would “be a lot” as he asserted that the severe weather - said to have been caused by a microburst, which is a sudden downward rush of wind from a thunderstorm - will not “be any game changer” for the industry.

Confirming that his property insurance underwriter has already received some claims, he reiterated that the aggregate payout by all carriers will not be “significant” overall although the industry was anticipating “one or two” major submissions. Mr Saunders said he knew that the $110m Legendary Blue Water Cay Marina project at the southern end of Fox Hill Road had been impacted.

Still, the RoyalStar chief said “most” affected properties with in-force, valid insurance policies were likely to be covered by their terms, although this may depend on how they and their insurer’s reinsurance treaties define ‘catastrophic events’. Given that the winds exceeded 100 miles per hour, he forecast that most insurance policies will treat Friday night as a catastrophic event.

“I’m sure there will be some claims coming the industry’s way,” Mr Saunders told this newspaper. “We have already had a couple of claims from our side. An event like that, which covered the eastern area where most of the population lives, is going to have some claims.

“Significant? I doubt it, but there are going to be some claims. You’d probably have those pockets of one or two significant claims, but overall it’s not going to be any game changer. It’s going to be typical wind damage; your roof, windows, some motor vehicles that got turned over or hit by trees and debris....

“You always have one-off things that you never know about. But if that [event] is more than $4m, it’s a lot. We might have two big risks that claim. I know they [Legendary Marina] got some damage. It depends on what the damage value is there. I wouldn’t expect more than $4m in combined claims.”

The RoyalStar managing director said the event had again shown the value of insurance for Bahamian homeowners and businesses when it came to protecting their physical assets - often their most expensive investments - against severe, unexpected weather events.

“We’re happy for those people who had insurance and know the value of insurance for unexpected events like this,” he added. “We always, for us and as an industry, concentrate on big picture events like hurricanes and major tornados, but small events like Friday - this microburst storm - it’s just as important.

“Insurance is just as important for the average person to protect their homes and businesses. It reinforces the value of insurance. It’s better to have it and don’t need it than to not have it and need it.” Mr Saunders said most homes and businesses who had valid insurance policies in effect, and sustained damage from Friday night’s storm, are likely to be covered for any losses.

“It’s a wind event, so it depends on whether it’s a catastrophic event or not. It also depends on the definition in your policy of whether it’s a catastrophic event and the definition in the reinsurance treaty,” he added. “I think most people will be covered.

“It depends on what your policy says and, ultimately, what your reinsurance treaty says on what is defined as a catastrophic event. According to the Meteorology Department, the winds were 100 miles per hour or more for a sustained period of time. That would be a catastrophic event. 

“We’ll see how it plays out, but it’s not a significant event. Those who have insurance know the value of insurance, and those who don’t have it will have to rely on their savings or their family’s help to help them recover.”

Timothy Ingraham, chief executive of Summit Insurance Company, through which Insurance Management Company places much of its property and casualty business, also told Tribune Business that the losses, damage and claims from Friday’s storm were unlikely to be major.

“The industry is still evaluating the impact of last week’s weather event on our clients. Initial indications are that losses should not be significant. We should have further details by the end of the week,” he said.

“That event, and even recent fires, show that insurance is important for more than just tropical storms and hurricanes, as loss events are always occurring. These non-hurricane events may be as costly for individuals homeowners as a hurricane event may be and, in fact, fires where there is a total loss may be even more costly.”

Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) said earlier this week that about 1,000 customers in eastern New Providence lost supply during Friday night’s ‘microburst’ with service now restored to all impacted areas. It added that the hardest-hit communities were re-energised within 24 hours.

BPL said the epicentre of the storm was around Fox Hill Road South but, by 8pm on Saturday, crews had re-energised and restored supply there, as well as to Kool Acres. Work also continued on reliability upgrades elsewhere, including Bethel Avenue, where an outage to redistribute load from an overloaded transformer prompted an immediate upgrade and the installation of an additional unit.

The storm struck around 9pm Friday, toppling trees and damaging infrastructure. BPL said crews mobilised within 45 minutes and worked through limited access in Imperial Park, replaced high-voltage poles on Fox Hill Road South after extensive tree damage; swapping two damaged transformers in High Vista; and clearing a faulty transformer and multiple downed high-voltage lines along Eastern Road near Chancery Lane.