2020’s typhoon Haishen loss rises 12%, Kyushu rain/flood loss rises 6%

The General Insurance Association of Japan (GIAJ) has said that insurance market losses from the July 2020 heavy rainfall event and related flooding in Kyushu, plus typhoon Haishen in September of last year have now risen by 9%.

In total, the amount of insurance claims paid in Japan after what were two of 2020’s largest catastrophe or severe weather events in the country now add up to almost US $1.72 billion, up from US $1.57 billion at the beginning of December 2020.

The heavy rainfall severely impacted the prefectures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu in early July 2020, causing widespread property damage and impacts from flooding after the record-breaking rainfall struck .

At least 77 people died because of the flooding and landslides, while property damage was significant as a result of the torrential rains and over 15,000 buildings were reported as either destroyed or damaged by flooding by Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

Insurance and reinsurance market losses from the rainfall and floods are now estimated as having reached around US $845 million at today’s exchange rate, up 6% from early December, based on data on domestic insurers and foreign non-life carriers operating in Japan.

At the latest count some 29,377 claims payments have been made related to the rainfall and flooding, with the majority of the loss falling to fire lines, so property damage related in Japan.

Meanwhile, the latest data on September 2020’s typhoon Haishen shows that the industry loss from this storm has risen by 12% since December.

Japan was hit by typhoon Haishen in September 2020, causing an overall insurance and perhaps reinsurance market loss of around US $871 million, based on data from domestic insurers and foreign non-life carriers operating in Japan at today’s exchange rate.

That’s risen by 12% since early December’s figure of US $777 million, again at today’s exchange rate.

Typhoon Haishen made landfall in Japan as a strong category 2-equivalent typhoon on September 6th 2020 and damaged properties due to flooding and landslides, as well as some wind damage across southern Japan.

The GIAJ said that the majority of the losses came from fire and allied lines, so largely property insurance covers and there have now been 144,878 claims payments made related to the typhoon.

Some minor recoveries were made on certain reinsurance arrangements following these events, with quota shares the main source of leakage to reinsurers or ILS players. However, losses from the July rains and typhoon Haishen did erode aggregate deductibles for some reinsurance programs as well.

The GIAJ has also reported industry losses from a heavy snowfall event in January 2021, with claims payments now having risen to US $290 million, at today’s rate.

Again, the majority if from property damage under fire and allied lines.

As we also explained yesterday, it’s been suggested that the Magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Japan off the Fukushima coast in February could cause a US $1 billion plus industry loss.

At this stage, only some US $36 million equivalent of claims payments have been made, but that’s from just 6,583 claims payments made from over 141,000 accepted claims, so this quake loss has much further to develop.