North American insured losses exceeded US$12.6 billion in the first nine months of 2015: PCS

Insured losses from catastrophe events in North America in the first nine months of 2015 topped US$12.6 billion, according to a report released on Wednesday by Property Claim Services (PCS), a Verisk Analytics business.

The PCS report, titled Events Rise, Losses Fall: PCS Q3 2015 Catastrophe Review, noted that PCS designated 30 events in the United States for US$12.2 billion in insured losses and three in Canada, for insured losses of $398 million. In total, North American nine-month losses fell 19% year over year, while the number of events PCS designated climbed 10%. [click image below to enlarge]

“Without a landfalling hurricane, the third quarter was particularly quiet – US$2.3 billion in insured losses from five events in the United States and two in Canada,” the report said, adding that the trend toward increasing numbers of smaller events continues. “Last year’s nine-month total was pushed higher by five events, each of which sustained at least US$1 billion in insured losses. This year, only three have attained that level, with a third-quarter wildfire event close.”

In Canada, for the first nine months of 2015, PCS declared three catastrophe events, resulting in insured losses of $398 million. Two events came in the third quarter, resulting in insured losses of $340 million, the report said, adding that Canadian nine-month losses last year reached $777 million, with $640 million occurring in the third quarter.

In the U.S., Texas remained the state most affected by catastrophes this year, sustaining a little more than US$2.4 billion in insured losses. Massachusetts followed at just over US$1 billion, largely the result of seven winter storm events that occurred in the first quarter, while Oklahoma rounded out the top three with sustained cat losses of US$810 million.

In total, the top ten states – Texas, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Illinois, Colorado, Missouri, New York, Minnesota, Kentucky and Pennsylvania – accounted for just over half of all U.S. catastrophe loss activity in the first nine months of 2015.

The report noted that PCS designated five cat events in Q3 2015, resulting in US$1.9 billion in insured losses. Frequency fell slightly from six in Q3 2014 and severity was off a modest 9.5% year over year. No U.S. third quarter events reached the US$1 billion threshold, although one event has a preliminary estimate of more than US$900 million, with the resurvey process still open, PCS reported.

Personal losses accounted for 73.7% of U.S. third-quarter activity, followed by commercial losses at 16.9% and vehicle losses at 9.4%. Last year, personal losses accounted for 49% of Q3 activity, followed by commercial at 26.6% and vehicle at 24.4%.