Global insured losses this year due to natural catastrophes and man-made disasters totaled $83 billion, the fifth-costliest year for the industry since 1970, according to preliminary estimates from Swiss Re Ltd.’s Swiss Re Institute.

A record number of hurricanes caused relatively modest damage, as losses were driven by severe convective storms —including thunderstorms with tornadoes, floods and hail — and wildfires in the US.

These and other “secondary peril events” around the world accounted for 70% of the $76 billion in insured losses from natural catastrophes.

The extraordinary North Atlantic hurricane season caused $20 billion of insurance claims, “moderate compared to the record seasons of 2005 and 2017,” Swiss Re said. This year’s season brought a record 30 named storms, including five that made landfall in Louisiana, again the highest on record.

Most U.S. landfalls did not hit densely populated areas, causing far lower losses than in the previous record hurricane seasons of 2017 — when Harvey, Irma and Maria caused $97 billion in losses — and 2005, when Katrina hit for $87 billion.

This was not case worldwide, however, as “this year's natural disasters impacted regions with more insurance cover in place,” said Jerome Jean Haegeli, Swiss Re Group chief economist.

Severe convective storms caused “devastation” all year, Swiss Re said. In January, hailstorms in southeastern Australia caused insured losses of more than $1 billion. In June, Canada had its most costly hail event ever in Calgary, causing losses of $1 billion.

Wildfires in the U.S. from mid-August led to high insured losses, and Australia's 2019 fire season, the longest and most destructive ever recorded, was still burning in early 2020.

More than 800 wildfires in the states of California, Oregon and Washington burned close to 6 million acres and destroyed thousands of structures, causing billions of dollars in insured claims. These losses, though still below the record levels of 2018 and 2017, make 2020 “one of the costliest for fires,” Swiss Re said.

Severe floods in several provinces along the Yangtze River in China starting in May caused insured losses of roughly $2 billion.

Winter storms in northern Europe during February brought flooding, power outages and transport disruption totaling more than $2 billion of combined insured losses.

In May, cyclone Amphan, the most destructive tropical cyclone India has ever experienced, hit the Bay of Bengal and caused economic losses of $13 billion, although insured losses are expected to be just a fraction of that due to the region's low insurance penetration.

Next year may bring further challenges with similar weather conditions.

”Large-scale climate conditions in the North Atlantic suggest elevated hurricane activity for 2021 and likely beyond,” said Martin Bertogg, head of cat perils at Swiss Re.

Swiss Re’s loss estimates are for property damage and exclude claims related to COVID-19. The estimates “are preliminary and may be subject to change as not all loss-generating events have been fully assessed. COVID-19 has elongated the claims lifecycle, particularly for large events, and it will take considerably longer than normal to assess the final tally,” Swiss Re said.