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Hurricane Dorian Seen Costing the Bahamas at Least $7 Billion

Hurricane Dorian Seen Costing the Bahamas at Least $7 Billion

(Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Dorian, which pummeled the Bahamas, could cost the country $7 billion in insured and uninsured losses, according to an estimate from risk modeler Karen Clark & Co.

The preliminary estimate combines damage to commercial, residential and industrial properties as well as business-interruption expenses, the company said in a report Thursday. The figure doesn’t include vehicle losses or damage to infrastructure.

Hurricane Dorian Seen Costing the Bahamas at Least $7 Billion

Dorian swept over the Bahamas as a Category 5 storm, killing at least 20 people on Abaco Island, and is bearing down on the Carolinas as a Category 3. Most of the damage in the Bahamas occurred on Abaco and Grand Bahama, according to Karen Clark. Analysts at UBS Group AG estimate the storm will cause as much as $10 billion in insured losses, lower than the bank’s initial forecast of $25 billion.

“Dorian will go down in history as the worst catastrophe in this region, not only due to the highest recorded wind speed in the North Atlantic but also because the storm stalled over Abaco and Grand Bahama Island for over 24 hours,” Karen Clark said in its report.

--With assistance from Will Hadfield.

To contact the reporter on this story: Katherine Chiglinsky in New York at kchiglinsky@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Steve Dickson, Steven Crabill

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