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09

Hurricanes could result in $145bn of insured losses

Open-access content Tuesday 26th September 2017 — updated 5.50pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020

The combined insured losses incurred from Hurricane Maria, Irma, and Harvey, could reach up to $145bn (£108bn), according to estimates from catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide.

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Hurricane Maria is expected to be the most costly for insurers, with losses expected to range between $40bn and $85bn - with Puerto Rico accounting for more than 85% of the loss.

This will compound the damage caused by Irma two weeks ago, which is estimated to inflict between $32bn and $50bn in losses for the US and Caribbean.

While the wind, flood, and storm surge wreaked across Texas last month by Hurricane Harvey is likely to incur insured losses of more than $10bn - although property losses could be as high as $75bn.

This has bought the magnitude of the insurance protection gap under the spotlight, after research from Aon Benfield revealed a significant proportion of losses generated by Harvey are likely to be uninsured.

Meanwhile, the research shows the first half of 2017 saw a renewed surge of capital into the reinsurance sector, raising the total amount available to a record level of $605bn at 30 June.

"Hurricane Harvey has had devastating consequences and unfortunately many of the losses are uninsured, leaving the US government, and therefore taxpayers, to pick up most of the bill," Aon Benfield CEO, Eric Andersen, said.

"At the same time, we have an 'over-capitalised' reinsurance industry, and new investors actively seeking access to diversified insurance risk."

Although the US is one of the most insured countries in the world, almost 50% of the economic losses sustained from natural disasters remained unprotected last year, according to Aon Benfield's data.

It also shows that much of the rest of the world remains chronically under-insured at a time when the frequency of severe weather events is increasing.

"There needs to be a significant step-up in the efforts made to address the protection gap evident globally," Andersen added.


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This article appeared in our September 2016 issue of The Actuary.
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