More than half of the insured losses from the top 10 catastrophe events in 2013 occurred in Europe, according to Swiss Re.
In the latest sigma report, Swiss Re reveals that floods in Europe in June ranked as the biggest in terms of insured losses and economic losses.
The June flooding ranks as the second most expensive fresh water flood event on sigma records, but is a distant second to the 2011 Thailand flood which led to insured claims of over $16 billion.
In addition to floods, Europe suffered a number of other severe weather events, including hail and windstorms. Hailstorm Andreas battered Germany and France in July, resulting in insured losses of $3 billion. Later in the year, Windstorm Christian in central and northern Europe is estimated to have caused more than $1 billion in insured claims.
The more recent Windstorm Xaver in the same region has triggered additional insured losses of around $1 billion.
In total, Swiss Re estimates global insured losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2013 are to be around $44 billion, down from $81 billion in 2012.
Insured losses from natural catastrophes are at least $38 billion, down from $75 billion, while man-made disasters generated the remaining $6 billion of insured claims this year, little changed from 2012, Swiss Re said.
The overall economic losses from this year’s catastrophic events reached $ 130 billion, compared with $196 billion in 2012.
Source: Swiss Re