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Zurich (AFP)
Storm Ida, which hit Louisiana at the end of August, then the North-East of the United States, will cost insurers between 28 and 30 billion dollars (24 to 25.8 billion euros), estimated on Tuesday the Swiss giant of Swiss Re reinsurance.
This estimate concerns the entire insurance sector, the Swiss group said in a statement, which estimates its own insured losses at $ 750 million.
However, this is a first estimate, said the group which acts as an insurer for insurers, specifying that these figures could still be adjusted as and when claims for compensation are made.
At the end of August, a violent Category 4 hurricane hit Louisiana before the storm then spread to the northeastern United States, triggering torrential rains and flash floods, especially in New York.
Although the numbers may still change, the estimated costs for insurers are still so far below the reassessed losses for Hurricane Katrina, the costliest in history for insurers, according to data provided to the AFP by Swiss Re.
Taking inflation into account, the damage caused by this category 5 hurricane in 2005, which killed 1,800 people, represents the equivalent – at the dollar rate in 2020 – of 185 billion dollars, of which 87 billion were paid for by the insurers, the Swiss reinsurer told AFP.
The costs for Hurricane Maria in 2017, also a very expensive year for insurers, amounted to $ 34 billion. There were also $ 32 billion in compensation for Hurricane Harvey and $ 32 billion for Hurricane Irma.
The bill for insurers for Hurricane Sandy in 2012 was $ 32 billion.
Swiss Re, world number two in reinsurance behind Germany’s Munich Re, has also refined its estimates for the July floods in Europe. They could cost insurers some $ 12 billion, estimated Swiss Re, which estimates its own insured losses at around $ 520 million.
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In the first half of the year, the losses that insurers will have to cover were already high even before the start of the hurricane season in the North Atlantic, which is usually the most expensive for insurers.
In mid-August, Swiss Re estimated the bill for the first half of the year for insurers at 42 billion dollars, including 40 billion dollars for natural disasters, under the effect among other things of the winter storm Uri in February.
With the cold snap in the United States spreading as far as Texas, that storm alone resulted in some $ 15 billion in insured losses.
© 2021 AFP
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