PCS: Q1 cat season ‘middle of the road’

PCS’s latest review of the North American catastrophe season found that the market suffered $2.2 billion of losses during Q1, slightly below the quarterly average of $2.5 billion.

Five of the six winter storm events occurred in January, all linked with the polar vortex that struck the US, while Canada was unscathed, suffering no catastrophe losses during the first quarter of 2014.

Personal losses accounted for the lion’s share of first quarter activity – $1.7 billion, or 75 percent of losses - with commercial losses accounting for 23 percent of insured losses.

Georgia, New York and Pennsylvania suffered the most significant losses during the quarter, the report found.