The estimate of insurance and reinsurance industry losses caused by European windstorm Burglind, also known as Eleanor in the UK, has been raised by 6% to EUR 680 million, at the second update from PERILS AG.
Catastrophe loss data aggregator PERILS first estimated the industry wide market loss from storm Burglind / Eleanor at EUR 643 million in February, but that figure has risen as more claims information has been reported by affected re/insurers.
Extratropical cyclone Burglind, named Eleanor in the UK and Ireland, caused significant damage across Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom between 2nd and 3rd January 2018.
The aggregated loss data collected from affected insurance and reinsurance firms has now risen to EUR 680 million.
The majority of insured losses from windstorm Burglind / Eleanor occurred in France, Germany and Switzerland, PERILS said.
This could be one reason that the eventual impact to insurance and reinsurance interests from the storm is much lower than the early modelled loss estimates had suggested it would be.
A very early estimate suggested as much as EUR 500 million in Germany and the surrounding region, then reinsurance broker Aon Benfield said the storm could cost more than $600 million. Finally, risk modeller AIR Worldwide said its modelled estimates suggested a loss in a range from EUR 1.1 billion and EUR 1.6 billion.
The modelled estimate was likely anticipating a higher contribution to the eventual industry loss from damage in the United Kingdom, but in the end the insured impact there was seen to be only a small amount of total.
Burglind / Eleanor was a wide-reaching extratropical European windstorm, hitting Ireland and the United Kingdom first with 100 mile per hour winds, with flooding and wind damage along its path. The storm then struck northern Europe, impacting Germany, France and the Benelux countries, as well as further afield including Switzerland, causing further damage with wind gusts still recorded at 90 miles per hour.
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