Aon: Beryl costs 100s of millions of dollars in economic losses

Economic losses from Hurricane Beryl's deadly march across the Caribbean are likely to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to insurance broker Aon. 

Beryl, which has killed seven people since hitting the Eastern Caribbean on Monday and is now headed for the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, left more than 400,000 people without power and hundreds more displaced in Jamaica, Aon said.     

The storm also hit the Cayman Islands before strengthening to a category 3 storm as it headed towards Yucatan where hurricane warnings were posted. 

In Jamaica, two people were killed - a young man who died on Wednesday after he was swept into a storm water drain while trying to retrieve a ball. A woman also died after a house collapsed on her, the Associated Press said.  

"It is too early to determine exact loss figures related to Beryl as damage across the affected areas is still being assessed and further impacts are expected in Mexico and possibly Texas," Aon added. "Given the storm’s intensity and reported damage thus far across the Caribbean, which includes significant infrastructural, structural, and agricultural losses, Beryl may drive total economic losses into the hundreds of millions of US dollars. While insured losses are anticipated to be significantly lower, this largely depends on which areas will be impacted next."

Insurers are also likely to face claims from France and Germany from last week, where sever convective storms caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, Aon added. 

"On June 27-28, potentially notable losses related mainly to hailstorms were reported particularly across Germany, along with at least five people who suffered injuries," the broker's catastrophe report said. "Another two people were injured in Poland on June 27.

"Additional property damage occurred on June 28-30 when many European countries reported severe weather-related material and human losses. Strong thunderstorms occurred in eastern France, claiming three fatalities and one injury due to the fallen tree near the Brienne-le-Chât auvillage municipality. In Luxembourg, storms affected about 36 municipalities on June 29.

"Total aggregated economic and insured losses from the recent thunderstorm activity in Western and Central Europe are estimated to reach hundreds of million of euros. Most financial losses will likely be related to hailstorms that hit Germany and France, with additional damage resulting from heavy rainfall and flash flooding that were elsewhere across the region."

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