Severe thunderstorms caused most losses in June: Impact Forecasting

Severe thunderstorms in Western and Central Europe last month caused economic losses of roughly US$2.75 billion, according to the latest monthly global catastrophe recap report from Impact Forecasting.

Parts of Germany, France and Belgium experienced significant hail damage from an outbreak of severe storms that hit in the first half of June, according to Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development arm of Aon Benfield.

The French Federation of Insurance Companies reported that 363,000 residential, automobile and business claims had been filed in France as a result of the severe weather, with insurance payouts forecast at US$1.25 billion.

Last year, there were more than US$4 billion in claims from hailstorms, mainly in Germany and France, Impact Forecasting noted.

“For the second year running, hail-inducing thunderstorms have caused significant damage during the summer months in Europe,” Adam Podlaha, head of Impact Forecasting said in a statement Thursday.

“Given the recent level of losses for this peril, both in Europe and in the U.S., there is an increasing opportunity for the development of models to help insurers more accurately evaluate their exposures. With exponential advances in computing power, model developers will gradually be able to address the challenge of modelling this natural hazard at the high spatial resolution required to make the results meaningful.”

Also in June, severe weather including tornadoes, hail and damaging winds hit the United States, with insured losses passing US$1 billion.

In particular, parts of the Midwest, Plains, Rockies, Southwest, and the Tennessee Valley saw significant insured losses of around US$550 million from a nearly weeklong event causing hail, wind and flash flood damage.

Elsewhere in June, monsoon rains caused major damage in China, with economic losses estimated at more than US$2 billion, while flooding rains occurred in southern Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, killing at least 15 people.

Preliminary damage estimates to residential property and infrastructure in Argentina alone were listed in excess of US$62 million.