Windstorm Victoria – Dennis industry loss said EUR 286m by PERILS

European windstorm Victoria, also known as storm Dennis in the UK, is estimated to have cost the insurance market at least EUR 286 million, according to PERILS AG.

Being its first estimate for the market-wide property insurance and perhaps reinsurance loss for storm Victoria, there is a good chance PERILS increases it at the next report.

European windstorm Victoria (Dennis) struck the British Isles and north-western Europe between the 15th and 17th February 2020, coming just six days after windstorm Sabine (Ciara, Elsa) which caused a much larger loss of around EUR 1.6 billion.

The UK, Germany and Belgium suffered the majority of the industry loss due to wind gusts of up to 100km/h, PERILS said based on the data collected from re/insurers.

The initial estimate for the insured property market loss for extratropical cyclone Victoria (Dennis) is EUR 286 million, which would be too low for most reinsurance layers but in aggregation with other European windstorms of the 2019/20 winter season could drive higher losses for some insurers and perhaps trouble some lower reinsurance covers.

Once again, PERILS industry loss estimate does not include any damage caused by flooding, despite the fact Victoria (Dennis) exacerbated the flood situation in the UK at the time.

Victoria (Dennis) was the thirteenth named storm of a particularly active 2019–20 European windstorm season. Two more storms remain under investigation by PERILS, Hanna (Laura) and Bianca-Charlotte (Jorge), while storm Xanthippe-Yulia is estimated to have caused an industry loss of below EUR 200 million, so will not be reported on.

PERILS is also investigating the UK floods of February 2020 to identify whether they have caused a sufficient insurance and reinsurance market loss to warrant reporting on.