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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
BOSTON–Insured losses from Typhoon Roke could reach $600 million, according to catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide.
The typhoon made landfall Wednesday near Hamamatsu City in Japan as a strong Category 2 storm. It was the second major storm to make landfall in Japan this month, coming only two weeks after Typhoon Talas.
“Despite the similarity in estimated losses, however, Roke—primarily a wind event—was very unlike Talas—which was primarily a flood event—from a meteorological perspective,” AIR said in an analysis issued late Thursday.
Wind vs. water damage
“Although Roke had stronger winds than Talas, and thus might have been expected to cause significant wind damage, damage was mitigated by its short duration over Japan, its rapid inland weakening, and the position of its strongest winds, which were over open water,” AIR said.
While some wind damage “undoubtedly occurred, the damage was not as significant as might have been expected for a storm of Roke’s landfall intensity,” AIR said, also noting that Roke generated considerably less precipitation than Talas.
The catastrophe modeler estimated that Roke, the 15th named storm of the North Pacific typhoon season, caused $120 million to $600 million in insured damage.
For Talas, AIR this month estimated insured damage at $150 million to $600 million.
Aon Corp.'s Aon Benfield unit and Shanghai Typhoon Institute—STI--of China Meteorological Administration--the only state-funded typhoon research institute in China—announced Thursday that they had entered into an exclusive strategic partnership to boost typhoon research in China and deliver research to the insurance industry.