January catastrophes include U.S. northeast snowstorm, flooding in Malawi: Aon Benfield

Record snowfall last week resulted in at least $500 million in economic losses on the east coast of the United States, while earlier last month, Australians reported more than $30 million in losses resulting from wildfire, Aon plc’s Impact Forecasting unit reported Thursday. All figures are in U.S. currency.

Aon Benfield, the reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor owned by London-based Aon, published its global catastrophe report for January.

One catastrophe affecting the U.S. was a storm Jan. 26 to 28 that brought more than 90 centimetres to some locations in Massachusetts and prompted officials to call states of emergency in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.

Total economic damage and losses, including business interruption, “were minimally estimated” at $500 million, Aon Benfield reported. All figures are in United States dollars.

Multiple wildfires Jan. 2 and 3 in Australia resulted in another catastrophe. Aon Benfield noted that the “Insurance Council of Australia reported that 936 claims had been lodged amounting to insured losses” of $26 million.

“Thousands of hectares of land across South Australia and Victoria were charred and over 150 homes or structures were damaged as local authorities claimed that the fires around Adelaide were the worst since the Ash Wednesday wildfires of 1983.”

Meanwhile, “flooding in Indonesia damaged or destroyed approximately 13,050 homes and prompted the evacuation of more than 48,550 residents on Sumatra and Sulawesi islands,” Aon Benfield noted. “Eight people died as heavy seasonal rains inundated large swathes of land and triggered landslides.”

Floods also affected Europe and southern Africa last month.

Malawi was worst affected as the death toll climbed to at least 176 and more than half of the country’s districts declared in a state of disaster following 63,976 hectares (158,100 acres) of land being inundated,” Aon Benfield noted, adding the floods also caused deaths in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Combined economic losses were estimated at $450 million.

From Jan. 9 through 16, four wind storms – Elon, Felix, Gunter, and Hermann – killed at least two and caused power outages in northern Europe.

“Travel and transport was severely affected across the region as powerful wind gusts downed trees blocking roads and railway lines and whipped up huge waves causing the cancellation of hundreds of ferry services,” Aon Benfield noted. “Tornadoes, large hail, heavy snow, thundersnow, hurricane-force winds, and floods were all reported. Economic losses are expected to reach into the hundreds of millions of euros.”

A winter storm in the Middle East Jan. 6 caused “widespread disruption to transport,” Aon Benfield reported, adding total combined economic losses were estimated “near” $100 million.

PHOTO: Damaged property in Marshfield, Massachusetts Jan. 27, 2015. By Greg Derr, The Patriot Ledger, courtsey of CP Images.