Printed from BusinessInsurance.com

March weather insurance losses expected to top $1 billion

Posted On: Apr. 9, 2021 2:05 PM CST

hail damage

Aon Plc said Friday that multiple severe weather outbreaks in the United States during March are expected to result in insurance losses topping $1 billion.

The storms included tornadoes, hail and flooding. The worst outbreaks were March 22-23, 24-26 and 27-28 across the Central and Southern U.S.

A preliminary confirmed total of 122 tornadoes touched down during the month, Aon said. The severe weather was most damaging across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas.

The total U.S. economic cost from the severe convective storms and flooding is anticipated to approach $2 billion, and public and private insurers are likely to see losses top $1 billion, Aon said.

Windstorms Klaus and Luis affected parts of Western and Central Europe on March 10-13, causing “moderate” losses in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, northern France and the United Kingdom and bringing local insurers tens of thousands of claims. Economic losses were pegged in the hundreds of millions.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) declared an insurance catastrophe after extensive flooding across parts of eastern Australia from March 10 to March 24. Approximately 36,000 claims were filed, with an estimated insured loss of $410 million and expected overall economic loss of $2 billion.