The flooding in Kerr County "will have long-lasting economic impacts in the Hill Country region of Texas," AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter said in a statement.
Repairing and mitigating water damage is "particularly costly" and often not covered by homeowner's insurance policies, the commercial weather forecaster said. Insurance costs have climbed in Texas in recent years, in part because of climate change and the havoc wreaked by an increasing number of natural disasters.
The company said its estimate takes into account damage to homes, businesses, campgrounds, recreation facilities and infrastructure; the cost of evacuations, relocations, emergency management and cleanup operations; disruptions to commerce and supply-chain logistics; financial losses from power outages, road closures, travel delays and less tourism; predicted insurance claims; and long-term physical and mental health care for survivors and families whose loved ones perished.
The death toll across Central Texas has surpassed 100 people, and search efforts for the missing stretched into a fifth day Tuesday. Kerr County Judge Robert Kelly on Friday called the Guadalupe River basin "the most dangerous river valley in the United States," in part because of steep slopes and fast movement of storms into low-lying areas.
"The Texas Hill Country is one of the most flash-flood vulnerable parts of the country. You have complex terrain, lots of hills and valleys that water can pour into and often access to Gulf moisture and moisture from the eastern Pacific," Porter said. "The level of the Guadalupe River rapidly increased roughly 30 feet with a fast-moving wall of water in less than an hour. There's nothing worse than fast-moving water; it will destroy everything in its path."
He added: "Outside of consideration of this tragedy, why were camps and RV parks where people sleep even built and operated in such close proximity to these high-risk creeks, streams and rivers?"
Between 1980 and 2024, Texas experienced 190 natural disasters that cost at least $1 billion each — the highest tally nationwide, according to a ConsumerAffairs analysis of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration .
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