South of France insured flood losses estimated at up to $740m

The flooding caused by severe weather and extreme rainfall which struck coastal regions of southern France on the 3rd and 4th of October is expected to result in an estimated insurance industry loss of €550m to €650m ($625m to $740m).

According to the Association Francaise de l’Assurance, the severe weather which affected many towns in the Alpes-Maritimes and Var regions of southern France is expected to result in over 60,000 insurance claims.

Some towns in the French Riviera region such as Cannes were particularly badly hit, with months worth of rainfall falling in just a couple of hours. Nineteen people were reported to have died from the flooding event.

The French insurers association said that they were planning to make it easier for claimants to file loss reports, due to the scale of the damage and the expectation of a high number of claims.

French insurance companies are expected to retain the majority of the loss at these levels, but as ever there is a possibility that some may either call on reinsurance support or find that the event erodes aggregate layer reinsurance retention limits.

This region of France has been particularly badly hit by severe storms in recent years, with flooding tending to be the major cause of loss due to extreme rainfall over short time frames.