Hurricane Dorian Bahamas 2019

Two months after Hurricane Dorian’s catastrophic assault on the Bahamas, reconstruction planning is taking shape while property insurance, resilience standards, and Caribbean hurricane risk come under intense professional scrutiny. Other island markets continue to perform strongly.

Hurricane Dorian’s Category 5 assault on the Bahamas — 185 mph sustained winds, $3.4 billion in damage, 70,000 displaced — marks the Caribbean’s worst property disaster since Maria. We examine the full scale of the loss and the shape of the reconstruction challenge ahead.

Caribbean summer 2019 tourism delivered strong results across the region — then, in the final days of our coverage period, Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas as a catastrophic Category 5 storm with 185 mph sustained winds. We report on the summer’s performance and this breaking disaster.