California Wine Country Quake Losses reach Billions 

A strong earthquake that jolted residents of California’s Napa Valley wine country from their beds on Sunday caused insured property damage likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but the region’s total economic losses will be several times that, experts said on Monday.

The magnitude 6.0 quake, the biggest to hit California’s Bay Area in 25 years.

The quake struck just as the grape-harvesting season was getting under way in Napa County, a significant wine-producing area that generates thousands of jobs in a region famed for its Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

The full extent of industry damage had yet to be assessed, but one Napa winery spokesman said the quake would do little to harm what was otherwise expected to be a superb 2014 vintage.

The Insurance Information Institute in New York likewise estimated that insured quake damage would probably measure in the hundreds of millions of dollars, although overall economic losses will likely run several times higher.

That is because only about 6 percent of Napa area homes are covered by earthquake insurance, said Robert Hartwig, president and economist at the institute.

At Napa’s Hess Collection winery, two 10,000-gallon wine storage tanks had crumpled like tin cans, spilling the contents into a courtyard usually open to visitors and staining the pavement red, spokesman Jim Caudill said.

Also hard hit was the landmark, 19th-century wooden building that houses the tasting room and offices of Trefethen Family Vineyards.

The tremor was the largest earthquake to hit the Bay Area since the Loma Prieta quake, which killed 63 people and caused $6 billion in property damage.

 

Source: ibtimes

 

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