Damage Estimate Report
It is important that this report is only used as a guideline. The index values cannot and should not be correlated to the amount of insured losses.
The Damage Estimate Report is designed to analyze a storm's forecast overall damage potential. It can also be run after the storm has had an impact to help determine the extent of damage which may have occurred. The calculation of the Damage Estimate Index uses the force of the wind and the height of the estimated storm surge... along with the population of the area(s) affected and the real estate values in those areas.. The absolute value of the index has no meaning and is used only to compare to past storm's index values. Since the population of the area is critical, it is possible to have a Category 5 storm impacting a low population density area have an Damage Index value lower than a Category 1 storm impacting a densely populated area.
The report is run by selecting it from the drop down Report menu. It can be run for the latest forecast or the actual observations of the storm
The system will check to see if this report has been run earlier. If so, it will allow the user to show the previous calculation. Viewing the previous calculation is recommended unless storm forecast data (for the same advisory) or actual advisory data has changed for the storm.
The damage report's performance varies greatly and can take anywhere from a few seconds
to several minutes to complete a calculation. When complete it will present
the user with the following window.
As you can see the report calculates two indexes, one for wind damage and the other for Storm Surge Damage. It is important to separate these two factors as some locations are more prone to storm surge flooding than other areas... at the same level of wind. The report's descriptive scale is meant to only give a general idea of how the index value compares to past storms. The difference in actual damage may not be significant for storms that are described as extreme and extensive but you can be fairly confident that a storm with an extreme rating will be more damaging than one with a minor or moderate one. Finally, the current storm is compared to past storms with "similar" index values. The report will show up to 3 comparative storms for both wind and storm surge.
The information can be shared via email, printed output, etc..
It is important that this report is only used as a guideline. The index values cannot and should not be correlated to the amount of insured losses.