Hurricane Wilma

Final Posting | Summary
Posting Date: November 28, 2005, 8:00:00 AM

On Wednesday October 19, 2005, Hurricane Wilma set a new record for the lowest recorded barometric pressure of any Atlantic basin hurricane, at 882 mb. On that day Wilma also recorded the most rapid intensification of any Atlantic storm in hurricane history. Before moving on to Florida, Wilma struck the Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 4 storm where it prompted widespread evacuations and caused extensive wind and flood damage in the Mexican provinces of Yucatan and Quintana Roo, including the city of Cancun. On Monday October 24th, Hurricane Wilma made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Cape Romano, Florida, about 20 miles west of Everglades City and 22 miles south of Naples. Maximum sustained winds at landfall were estimated at 125 mph with higher gusts. Wilma was the eighth hurricane to affect Florida in 15 months. Wilma weakened to Category 2 status with 110 mph winds as it crossed the Florida Peninsula toward the Atlantic coast. This year, AIR is providing clients with one final scenario based on our post-event analysis, including wind observations collected after the storm and the results of our engineering survey of the damaged areas. For Hurricane Wilma, AIR’s final scenario produces an estimated industry insured loss of $8 billion. Wind speed and loss maps are available for viewing on the Scenarios page of this web site. Just after landfall, AIR issued an industry loss estimate of between $6 and $9 billion, which reflected the uncertainty in storm characteristics at landfall. The next day, AIR sent teams of civil and wind engineers to survey the damage. The key goals of the survey were to obtain: a) a detailed assessment of damage at the location level, and b) information on the overall extent and gradation of damage along and across the storm track. Widespread but relatively low levels of damage were observed to residential structures on both sides of the storm track. In general, damage to residential structures was limited to roof coverings. Due to the large size of this storm, the residential damage was fairly consistent on both the west and east coasts of Florida. Commercial damage was significant in several areas, particularly in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Significant window damage was observed in high-rise structures in the Miami and Broward business districts. The event set is available for download from the Event Sets page. This will be the final posting on Hurricane Wilma.

Final Posting | Downloads
Posting Date: November 28, 2005, 8:00:00 AM