Insurance industry losses from the severe wildfires that hit Sevier County, Tennessee have risen significantly from early estimates, with the latest loss estimate reported as $842 million by the regional insurance department.
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance told the Knoxville News Sentinel this week that the estimate of losses to be paid by insurance and reinsurance is now significantly above a $500 million estimate they gave in December.
The $842 million figure is the second loss estimate update from the Department, with two more insurance reports scheduled before the industry loss estimate will be considered finalised.
As of the 6th January 2017 the loss estimate from the Sevier County and Gatlinburg, Tennessee wildfires have resulted in 3,947 insurance claims and an estimated $842.25 million combined residential and commercial property insurance loss.
An insurance industry loss of this magnitude is guaranteed to touch on the reinsurance markets, with a chance that some insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds could find themselves exposed to minor attritional losses on certain collateralised reinsurance contracts.
The loss estimate includes personal auto, commercial auto, business interruption and other business lines claims as well.
The fires struck Gatlinburg on November 28th 2016 and now look set to be one of the largest U.S. wildfire insurance losses of recent years.
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