Tornadoes, severe storms drive US & European losses this week: Aon

Tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and related convective weather plus flooding are set to drive hundreds of millions in losses across the United States and Europe this week, according to Aon unit Impact Forecasting.

A tornado that struck the Chicago suburbs this week, which we covered at the time here, is expected to be the largest driver of insurance and perhaps reinsurance market losses, but Europe also experienced a tornado, with a significant event causing damage in the Czech Republic.

Across thee United States, an active week of severe weather resulted in widespread reports of large and damaging hail, severe straight-line winds, life-threatening flooding, and dangerous tornadoes between June 17th and 21st, Impact Forecasting, Aon’s risk modelling and meteorological unit said.

A line of severe thunderstorms spawned the powerful EF-3 tornado on June 20th, causing extensive damage to hundreds of homes in densely populated suburbs southwest of Chicago – in DuPage and Cook Counties, the insurance and reinsurance broker’s unit explained.

As a result, total combined economic and insured losses from the past week of severe weather in the US are each anticipated to reach into the hundreds of millions, with the majority of the hail and wind related costs being covered by insurance.

Europe saw a heatwave coming to its end this week which resulted in severe weather and a prolonged outbreak of severe convective storms caused considerable damage across Western and Central Europe.

Impact Forecasting said that severe weather wreaked havoc in parts of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, the Czech Republic, and elsewhere.

A destructive tornado severely affected four municipalities in Southern Moravia, the Czech Republic and claimed four lives and preliminary estimates suggest that total losses throughout Europe from this severe convective weather outbreak will reach into the hundreds of millions EUR, Impact Forecasting noted.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Claudette impacted the southern and southeastern United States, but the largely flood related impacts after heavy rainfall are not expected to translate into significant insurance market losses, with Aon saying to expect most flood damage to properties to be uninsured, while the overall financial impact is expected to reach into the tens of millions (USD).