Initial loss estimate for Windstorm Xaver 680 million euros: PERILS

Zurich-based PERILS has put its initial estimate of insured property loss from Windstorm Xaver – which hit northern United Kingdom before moving on to parts of western and northern Europe in early December – at 680 million euros.

The market loss estimate is based on ultimate gross loss data as reported by primary insurance companies and excludes losses indemnified by government schemes, the independent organization that provides industry-wide catastrophe insurance data noted in a statement Thursday.

PERILS reports that the majority of losses from Xaver – also known as Sinterklaasstorm in the Netherlands, Bodil in Denmark and Sven in Sweden – occurred in Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the U.K.

The depression formed in the Atlantic to the west of Iceland on December 4, 2013 and “traveled quickly south-eastward towards the British Isles, deepening as it moved,” the statement notes.

Strong winds affected the northern parts of the U.K., the Netherlands and Germany, as well as Denmark and southern parts of Norway and Sweden. “Strong winds were accompanied by a storm surge, which was particularly severe as the timing of the storm was close to that of the new moon phase” on December 3, 2013, the statement adds.

Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development arm of Aon Benfield, noted in its most recent monthly global recap report that December windstorms in Europe – Xaver and Dirk – combined to cause $2.25 billion in economic losses. Xaver, specifically, resulted in insured losses of $1.1 billion, the report notes.

“The clustered pattern of windstorms seen across western and northern Europe in December has emphasized the importance of being able to capture this phenomenon in catastrophe models,” Adam Podlaha, head of Impact Forecasting, suggested in a statement at the time.

In mid-December, AIR Worldwide estimated insured losses from Xaver at 700 million to 1.4 billion euros. The majority of losses will be in Denmark, Germany and the U.K., although losses also occurred in the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Norway, the catastrophe modelling firm reported at the time.