GlobeNewswire Inc | Sep 21, 2020 07:48AM EDT

September 21, 2020

Boston, Sept. 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that industry insured losses to onshore property resulting from HurricaneSallys winds,storm surge, and inland floodwill range from USD1billion to USD3billion, with wind representing the majority of the losses.AIR Worldwide is a Verisk (Nasdaq:VRSK) business.

After meandering across the Gulf, Sally made a late shift eastward and rapidly intensified to a Category 2 hurricane before making landfall at 4:45 a.m. CDT on September 16 near Gulf Shores, Alabama, just west of the Florida border, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 965 mb. Sally quickly diminished after landfall as it crept northeast at around 3 mph, bringing wind gusts over 100 mph, storm surgeofaround 6-7 feet above NAVD88in coastal communities of Baldwin County, Alabama,and Escambia County, Florida (including Pensacola),andrainfallofup to 30 inches in Orange Beach, Alabama,and24.8inches in downtown Pensacola, Florida.Heavy rainfall waslargelyconfined toarelatively smallerareacoveringtheFlorida Panhandlewest ofTallahasseeandsoutheastern Alabama.

According to AIR, although wind speeds diminished rapidly after landfall, Sallybuffeted cities and towns for hours as itmovednorth-northeastacross Alabamaatspeeds as slow as 2mph. Coastal areas between Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida,lingeredin the northern eyewall for hours.Tropical stormforce winds continued throughtheafternoonof the 16thacross southern Alabamaandthe western FloridaPanhandle.

Along its track,Sally causedmostly minor roof damage,broken windows,downed trees,toppled church steeples and appurtenant structures such as gas station canopies, and some isolated major structural failures,anddamagedinfrastructurein Alabama and Florida.At its height, power outage extended to nearly half a millioncustomersmost of them in Alabama and Florida.

Areas ofnotablestorm surge inundation includeOrange Beach and Dauphin Island, Alabama, and other coastal communities of Baldwin County. Areas of notable inland flooding include downtown Pensacola, which received 24.8 inches of rain from Sally. Flooding in coastal communities in Baldwin County and the Florida Panhandle waslargelycaused by hurricane-induced precipitation.

Included in AIRs estimates are losses to onshore residential, commercial, and industrial properties and automobiles for their building, contents, and time element coverage.

About AIR WorldwideAIR Worldwide (AIR) provides risk modeling solutions that make individuals, businesses, and society more resilient to extreme events. In 1987, AIR Worldwide founded the catastrophe modeling industry and today models the risk from natural catastrophes, terrorism, pandemics, casualty catastrophes, and cyber incidents. Insurance, reinsurance, financial, corporate, and government clients rely on AIRs advanced science, software, and consulting services for catastrophe risk management, insurance-linked securities, longevity modeling, site-specific engineering analyses, and agricultural risk management. AIR Worldwide, a Verisk (Nasdaq:VRSK) business, is headquartered in Boston, with additional offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, please visit www.air-worldwide.com. For more information about Verisk, a leading data analytics provider serving customers in insurance, energy and specialized markets, and financial services, please visit www.verisk.com.

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For more information, contact:Kevin LongAIR Worldwideklong@air-worldwide.com