Winter Storm Elliot wreaks havoc on U.S. infrastructure

[skipster]

Winter Storm Elliot (Dec. 21-26, 2022) caused more than $5 billion in insurance losses across 42 states, according to Karen Clark & Co.’s modeling, as reported by PropertyCasualty360. While each seasonal cycle sees states brace for hurricane and tornado season, this year’s winter serves as a grim reminder that disasters aren’t limited by calendar dates.

In Buffalo, New York, more than three dozen people died as snow drifts trapped people in cars, caused auto crashes, and pushed people into cardiac arrest while shoveling snow. In New York, New York, police conducted more than 500 snow rescues of people trapped in buildings or cars, piled in by snow.

In addition to the tragic cost of human life, the storm, dubbed a “bomb cyclone” by weather people who apparently aren’t satisfied with the scale of drama Mother Nature brings all on her own, brought freezing temperatures and blizzard conditions to areas that historically don’t drop below freezing, or that only get an inch of snow in any given year (like Florida).

And, where there’s abnormal weather conditions, there’s often insurance claims. Likely, the estimated $5.4 billion in insurance losses will be due to paying for the fallout of burst pipes and failing infrastructure.

 

[evan2001]

@skipster I'm waiting for the policy endorsements to make the named storm deductibles apply to these named winter storms.

 

[harbor]

@evan2001 I don't think these named winter storms are officially named by any weather agency, I think it's just a gimmick by the weather Channel.

 

[skipster]

@evan2001 As @harbor noted, these names are coming from the Weather Channel, not the National Weather Service. It would be interesting if NWS began to classify serious winter storms, though!

 

[mjb048]

@skipster God, the last week of the year and first few weeks of this year were nonstop pipe burst posts in this subreddit lmao