Floods, high winds caused catastrophe losses in November
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Economic losses from floods in Europe, including historic high tides in Venice, Italy, could reach almost $3 billion, according to a report Friday from Aon PLC.
The historical center of Venice was flooded Nov. 12 by the second highest tide on record, the broker said in its monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report.
Severe weather from Nov. 11-19 caused additional widespread damage across Italy and parts of Austria, with total aggregated economic losses tentatively estimated to reach as high as $1.9 billion.
Further flooding in France, Italy and England during November resulted in combined economic losses expected to exceed another $1.0 billion, the report said.
Insurers should be able to manage such losses, Aon said in a statement issued with the report.
“Despite a costly November resulting from major flooding events in the U.K., France, Italy and Austria, European insurers have generally endured manageable losses thus far in 2019,” Michal Lorinc, catastrophe analyst within Aon’s Impact Forecasting team, said in the statement.
In North America, high winds and floods in parts of eastern Canada from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, caused “extensive” damage and power outages in Quebec and Ontario with economic losses estimated at up to $275 million, most of which was covered by insurance, Aon said.
Meanwhile, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest since modern records began, struck central and northern Albania on Nov. 26, causing “severe” damage with economic losses estimated in the hundreds of millions, Aon said.
In Asia, Cyclone Matmo – also called Bulbul locally – made landfall near the India and Bangladesh border on Nov. 9, with total economic losses preliminarily estimated at $3.3 billion or higher.
