North American 2014 insured cat losses hit $18B: Munich Re

An ice storm caused many trees to break under heavy limbs on Broad Street in downtown Augusta on Thursday, February 13, 2014. Throughout the east Georgia region, the grand total was 36,000 outages./ AP Photo

North American insured catastrophe losses totaled about $18 billion in 2014, according to an analysis released Wednesday by Munich Reinsurance Co.

That was considerably below the 2004-2013 average of $38 billion in insured losses. The heaviest North American losses involved unusually cold winter weather. Heavy snowfalls and blizzards, particularly in the eastern United States, generated about $2.3 billion in insured losses, according to Munich Re.

Globally, insured catastrophe losses last year reached about $31 billion, only slightly more than half of the 10-year average of $58 billion. The costliest natural catastrophe for the insurance industry in 2014 was a winter storm in Japan, which led to insured losses of about $3.1 billion, the German reinsurer found. Although Cyclone Hudhud, which struck India in October, was the costliest natural catastrophe in terms of economic losses at about $7 billion, only about $530 million in losses was insured.