MADISON, Wisc.-With credit union losses from Hurricane Ike totaling $10.2 million to date, 2008 will go down as one of the tougher years for natural disasters in the CU community, CUNA Mutual Group is reporting.
While Ike's claims total could still fluctuate slightly, overall losses to CUs in 2008 have reached $12 million, making this year's disaster losses the second largest total for CUNA Mutual in the last eight to 10 years, said Mike Retelle, CUNA Mutual's corporate property and casualty claims manager. Hurricane Katrina's $20 million total in 2005 still tops CUNA Mutual's claims charts, as does the $22 million total losses for catastrophes that year.
"Ike is the third largest disaster we have had in the last 20 years," said Retelle, who noted that most hurricanes leave the majority of credit unions in the storm area untouched. "There just isn't a credit union on every corner."
But with Ike, "virtually every credit union location" in Galveston, Houston, and the surrounding areas had some form of damage, said Retelle. "There are 94 credit unions in those areas and 256 locations."
Ike's size and force were surprising to CUNA Mutual's storm watchers, said Retelle, a 29-year CUNA Mutual veteran who has helped CUs recover from tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, and more. "We were shocked to see Ike advance well into the Midwest. Rarely will we see storms that impact very deeply into the U.S."
During years in which there were no major storms like Katrina and Ike, credit union claims from catastrophes often fall below $6 million a year, sometimes below $2 million, according to Retelle, who said catastrophes that impact credit unions, for the most part, are hurricane-related.
Losses from the 2008 Midwest flooding resulted in nearly $2 million in claims, Retelle said, adding that a great deal of additional flood claims were made to federal policies.
Even in a tough year for hurricanes-Dolly, Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike all hit within about 45 days-Retelle contends that today's storms are not much worse than storms from past years. The public's perception of their fury is simply changing, he said. In the aftermath of Katrina, storm preparedness is now top priority.
"People are reacting differently to these storms. You had the evacuation of Houston and Galveston-and rightly so-but you were not seeing that kind of action five to seven years ago. People who used to say, 'I've lived here all my life and I'm not leaving,' are now ready with their bags packed."
Originally Reported In CU Journal: Sept. 12, 2008
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