Swiss Re reveals $1.27bn claims burden from cat events

Swiss Re is expecting a combined impact of $1.27 billion from Hurricane Ida and extreme flooding in Western Europe.

The global reinsurer has revealed that its preliminary claims burden from Hurricane Ida is approximately $750 million. On an industry level, Swiss Re estimated total insured market losses to be in the range of $28–30 billion.

The loss estimate for the July floods in Europe is approximately $520 million. The group estimated total insured market losses of the industry for this event at approximately $12 billion.

It noted that the foregoing estimates are subject to uncertainty and may need to be subsequently adjusted as the claims notification and assessment process continues.

Hurricane Ida, the second-most intense hurricane on record to hit the US state of Louisiana, caused extensive wind and flood damage across the Eastern and Mid-Atlantic parts of the US. After making landfall on 29 August 2021, the category 4 hurricane caused wide-ranging power outages and severe infrastructure damages particularly in Louisiana, before triggering exceptional flash flooding and storm surges in the Northeastern regions of the country.

Extreme flooding in Europe occurred between 12 to 18 July 2021 and mainly affected Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Austria, France, Switzerland and the UK were also affected, but to a much lesser extent. The floods were  characterised by bursts of devastating flash flooding in small- and medium-scale river catchments, and caused extensive property and infrastructure damage and loss of lives.

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