UK insured flooding losses may exceed £100 million

Insured losses from flooding in the U.K. could exceed £100 million ($129 million), and damages are still being calculated from historic flooding in Venice, Italy, according to the Weekly Cat Report from Impact Forecasting, a unit of Aon PLC.

Rainfall in northern England on Nov. 7-8 led to substantial flooding, the report said, adding at least 830 properties were flooded.

The historic center of Venice was flooded Nov. 12 by the second highest storm tide on record, also the most significant inundation event for the city since 1966, according to the report.

Economic losses were tentatively estimated by local authorities to reach into the hundreds of millions of euros, the report said, “though this is considered preliminary. The full scope of damage will be determined after official assessments take place in the coming days and weeks.”

While total economic losses were preliminarily estimated at upwards of $2.6 billion for just the Indian state of West Bengal due to Cyclone Matmo, only a small fraction of the overall economic cost was likely to be covered by insurance due to very low local insurance take-up, the report said.

Matmo made landfall near the India and Bangladesh border on Nov. 9 as a Category 1-equivalent storm. A large portion of the losses are expected to result from substantial hits to local agriculture.

Australian wildfires the week of Nov. 11 have led to a state of emergency but resulted in limited insured losses, some $50 million, the report said.

More than 400 record-low temperatures were established during the ending Nov. 14 as Arctic air engulfed a broad section of the U.S., with economic losses expected in the millions, the report said.