May proves an expensive month for cat insurers: Aon
May was another costly month for insurers, according to Aon’s latest monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report, with several severe weather outbreaks across the US.
These weather events resulted in five deaths and $4 billion in economic damage, of which “a significant proportion” was insured, Aon said.
One particularly severe outbreak on May 4-5 affected parts of Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and South Carolina, leading to economic losses estimated above $975 million, of which around 75 percent was insured.
Meanwhile, extreme weather was also in evidence in Asia, where Cyclone Amphan swept across India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, exacting a heavy toll in human lives, but with insurers having little exposure.
Amphan killed at least 133 people, of which 103 were in India, 26 in Bangladesh and four in Sri Lanka. More than 1200 others were injured. Damages were estimated to come to around $15 billion, the majority of which were uninsured, according to Aon.
The government in West Bengal, India, expected total economic losses to exceed $13.5 billion, while officials in Bangladesh noted damage costs nearing $1.5 billion.
Michal Lörinc, catastrophe analyst within Aon’s impact forecasting team, said Amphan highlighted the need for further investment to modernise coastal barriers, embankments, and the electrical grid in storm-prone areas around the world.
“The use of catastrophe models to incorporate future storm scenarios is one useful option to use as a guide for investment planning,” he added.
