Now that the dust has begun to settle, BoatU.S. has begun to survey damages to the industry following hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The advocacy, services and safety group for recreational boaters estimates that the two hurricanes combined have damaged or destroyed more than 63,000 recreational vessels for a total of roughly $655 million. Hurricane Sandy in 2012 clocked in at 65,000 boats for more than $650 million in estimated losses.
“The boats that were hit the hardest by Harvey were located on a relatively small slice of Texas coast, while we saw damage to recreational vessels from Irma in every corner of Florida,” said Rick Wilson, a BoatU.S. representative. “While Hurricane Irma’s losses are significant, it could have been much worse.”
The BoatU.S. Catastrophe Team recently completed two months worth of field operations for members in damaged areas, which included arranging for repairs, and salvage and wreck removal.
For more information, visit boatus.com.
Watch a video showing some of the damage to boats caused by the storms below: