Nanmadol Weakening Towards China, Spares Taiwan: AIR

Tropical Storm Nanmadol will reach mainland China Tuesday but insured damage is expected to be limited as the government initiates precautions and sparse take up of private insurance curtails losses, according to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide.

Nanmadol is moving slowly across the Taiwan Strait and will make landfall in China’s Fujian province sometime Wednesday, AIR says in a statement, adding that the storm’s current sustained winds are at about 85 km/h with gusts up to 128 km/h.

“Nanmadol’s landfall will probably coincide with an astronomical high tide, and its waves are expected to crest at from two to three-and-a-half meters along Fujian’s coast,” said Dr. Peter Sousounis, principal scientist at AIR Worldwide.

The firm adds in the statement that although damage from wind, flood, and landslides is expected, private market losses should be limited because “insurance penetration in China generally is low, and especially for residential structures.”

The storm is on the move after striking Taiwan as a Category 1 storm. AIR adds that Nanmodol was country’s first typhoon landfall of the year, but damage was not extensive. The Taiwanese government was criticized for an inadequate response in 2009 to Typhoon Morakot, AIR adds.



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