Severe weather in U.S. caused $1 billion of insured losses last month

Four periods of severe weather in the United States last month caused insured losses of more than $1 billion, with economic losses likely to be several billion dollars, Impact Forecasting says in its global catastrophe recap for May 2014.

However, despite the losses, by the end of May, U.S. tornado activity for the year remained in the bottom 25th percentile of all years dating to the early 1950s, according to the firm, which is the catastrophe model development arm of Aon Benfield.

“While tornado activity in the United States was fairly subdued during the month of May, there was no shortage of vigorous thunderstorm formation across the country,” Steve Bowen, associate director and meteorologist with Impact Forecasting noted in a statement.

“Large hail and damaging winds left considerable damage in many areas, which served as another reminder of how costly non-tornadic storm events can be for the insurance industry and local governments,” he added.

“Despite the relatively low activity of the 2014 tornado season, insurers are still faced with several billions of dollars in storm-related damage claims. However, the industry remains well-positioned financially as the focus in the U.S. begins to shift towards the start of the Atlantic hurricane season.”

Also in the U.S., extreme heat and excessive drought conditions, along with low relative humidity levels and gusty winds led to dozens of wildfires across parts of the Texas Panhandle and southern California, with fire causing damages of about $100 million in those two states.

Also in May, the heaviest rains in 120 years fell across parts of southeastern Europe, causing extensive flooding in Serbia and Bosnia. Economic losses are estimated at $4.5 billion, with much lower insured losses because of low penetration, the report says.

Heavy rain in China also caused major flooding in the south of the country, with economic losses estimated at $1.2 billion.

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake also occurred last month in northern Thailand, with economic losses estimated at $62 million and insured losses at $15 million, while two earthquakes in China caused economic losses of $60 million.