As Hurricane Harvey Hammers Houston, Its Final Impact On Texas Municipalities' Credit Quality Remains Unclear

CENTENNIAL (S&P Global Ratings) Aug. 29, 2017—While Hurricane Harvey's assault has had a quick and brutal impact on Houston (AA/Negative) and its environs, the storm's long-term impact on the area's credit picture is unclear. S&P Global Ratings rates 25 of the 54 counties included in Texas' emergency declaration. This declaration area saw wide ranging effects from the storm: all-told, it includes nearly 1,000 credits in our rated universe, primarily cities, towns, school districts, and municipal utility districts (MUDs). There's no question the hurricane's devastation of the fourth-largest city in the U.S. could have a negative effect on the credit quality of various local government issuers, but it's too soon to tell. In the event of a natural disaster, we generally

...CENTENNIAL (S&P Global Ratings) Aug. 29, 2017--While Hurricane Harvey's assault has had a quick and brutal impact on Houston (##/Negative) and its environs, the storm's long-term impact on the area's credit picture is unclear. S&P Global Ratings rates 25 of the 54 counties included in Texas' emergency declaration. This declaration area saw wide ranging effects from the storm: all-told, it includes nearly 1,000 credits in our rated universe, primarily cities, towns, school districts, and municipal utility districts (MUDs). There's no question the hurricane's devastation of the fourth-largest city in the U.S. could have a negative effect on the credit quality of various local government issuers, but it's too soon to tell. In the event of a natural disaster, we generally view the available federal, state, and insurance reimbursements as a credit positive because the total cost of expenditures related to the disaster will likely be fully mitigated. However, Harvey is the type of storm we see...

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