Harvey may no longer be a hurricane but a tropical storm, but it is likely to be causing considerable financial damage. Julia Kollewe reports:

With the catastrophic Texas floods triggered by Hurricane Harvey set to worsen, early estimates suggest the financial damage it has inflicted has already run into tens of billions of dollars, and one forecaster has predicted the final bill could be as high as $100bn (£77bn).

The tropical storm continues to batter south-eastern Texas, where it has so far claimed at least nine lives, and is expected to reach southern Louisiana. Thousands of homes have been flooded forcing residents to seek emergency shelter. US authorities estimate 30,000 people will need shelter.

So far predictions of the final cost of the damage vary widely. Some insurance analysts are putting the likely damage at $30 to $50bn – but point out that not all of this sum will be covered by insurance. However, David Havens, an insurance analyst at Imperial Capital in New York, told Bloomberg News the final bill could reach as much as $100bn.

This compares with damage of $120bn caused by hurricane Katrina in 2005, which included $80bn of insured losses, and the $75bn economic losses caused by hurricane Sandy in 2012.

As homeowners’ personal insurance policies tend to exclude flood cover, most of the flood-related claims will be borne by the US National Flood Insurance Programme.

However, many people in eastern Texas have failed to buy coverage from NFIP or have let their policies lapse, the New York Times reported. It said many never had to buy flood insurance because their property was not listed as being on a 100-year floodplain. Charles Watson of data analytics firm Enki estimates the damage to homes alone could total $30bn.