Dolly came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane at South Padre Island 1 p.m. local time, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The storm weakened as it crossed Texas and has since been downgraded to a tropical storm. Dolly continues to produce heavy rains and the threat of significant flooding will continue for several days, the National Hurricane Center said in a statement.
Insured losses from the windstorm are estimated at between $300 million and $1.2 billion, said AIR. The Boston-based catastrophe modeling firm estimated the average mean loss at $600 million, noting considerable uncertainty in the estimate due to the slow progress of the storm and significant precipitation.
“Exacerbating the potential damage, Hurricane Dolly virtually crawled toward Texas, battering coastal properties on both sides of the border with tropical storm and hurricane force winds long before the center of the storm actually crossed the coastline,” Peter Dailey, director of atmospheric science at AIR said in a statement. “Mitigating the damage is the fact that the sister cities of Brownsville and Matamoros—the largest exposure concentrations on Dolly's path are located about 20-25 miles inland,” he added. Around a quarter of the losses are expected in Mexico, AIR added.