The present estimate of losses arising from Hurricane Helene, which struck Florida and Georgia and precipitated flooding within the Carolinas and Tennessee, is between US$20 to US$34 billion, in line with Moody’s Analytics, with US$15-$26 billion being property harm. Of this, AM Greatest is estimating USD5 billion will probably be insured. This exhibits the persevering with pattern of insurers transferring away from high-risk areas, beginning way back to the 1960’s, when a typical hurricane would have the trade protecting round 60% of the losses.
60 individuals are reported to have perished, with hundreds of thousands of houses with out energy.
What we’re seeing this time is consistent with Hurricane Ian in 2022, when over 20 electrical automobiles caught hearth after being submerged or partially submerged by saltwater from flooding or storm surge. This example turns into worse if the automotive is inside a storage that’s a part of a house or comparable construction. This places huge stress on the emergency providers, who’re already stretched coping with the results of the storm.
There are lots of movies on YouTube reporting on the problem. Here’s a hyperlink to 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReD1-oHfSyU&pp=ygUZZXYgZmlyZXMgZm9sbG93aW5nIGhlbGVuZQpercent3Dpercent3D
It’s not simply electrical automobiles that may catch hearth after being inundated by saltwater however any lithium batteries, starting from golf carts to energy instruments, computer systems and telephones.
The message from hearth departments within the US is to take away electrical automobiles which have been inundated by saltwater to an space the place it’s not less than 15 meters away from any flamable materials. For smaller batteries, the required distance is much less, however the significance of eradicating them out of a houses, workplaces, or different buildings as soon as broken by saltwater shouldn’t be ignored.
I’m not in opposition to electrical automobiles. We’ve one within the household, and whereas they’ve nice advantages, in addition they include dangers that must be understood and acted upon. The main takeaways are batteries which have been broken from any trigger, together with inundation by saltwater, shouldn’t be positioned on cost, must be stored properly away out of your houses or different buildings, and changed as quickly as potential.
As an apart, I imagine care ought to be taken with lithium batteries on or round pleasure craft because of the danger of fireplace from broken batteries.