Coverage litigation arising from Winter Storm Uri’s impact on Texas is likely to be significant, due to the vast number of businesses hit both within the state and beyond, legal experts say.

As the snow, ice and freeze also triggered widespread power outages and rolling blackouts in Texas, there are several issues that could complicate the claims process for commercial property policyholders.

The storm, which affected a broad swath of states, particularly in the southern U.S., could be the driver of record first-quarter insured property catastrophe losses for U.S. property/casualty insurers, A.M. Best Co. said in a Feb. 19 report.

Many of the property losses will be from water damage caused by frozen and broken pipes, and extended power outages could cause losses for reinsurers as well as primary insurers, Best said in the report.

Property/casualty insurers could pay an estimated $18 billion in damages, more than half of which will be from Texas, with the majority commercial losses, according to catastrophe modeling company Karen Clark & Co.