European windstorms caused £3,142m in insurance industry losses – Perils

Insurers lost €3,739m (£3,142m) as a result of the European windstorms that buffeted the continent betweem 16 to 21 February, according to Perils’ third loss estimate released today (19 August 2022).

Perils’ latest estimate would make the February storms the largest European windstorm loss since Kyrill in January 2007.

The windstorm series, which struck the British Isles and continental Europe, consisted of three storms – named Dudley, Eunice and Franklin by the UK Meteorological Office.

To compare, Perils’ latest figure – which is based on detailed loss data collected from the most affected insurers – is up €129k (circa £108k) from its €3,610m (£3,033m) estimate published in May 2022, three months after the event occurred.

Six weeks after the event, on 31 March 2022, Perils predicted that the industry’s property market loss sat at €3,289m (£2,763m) .

Perils is an independent, Zurich-based organisation that provides industry-wide insurance data for catastrophes. Insurance Times has contacted the firm for further comment.

Loss footprint

In total, nearly 1.9m individual insurance claims were filed as a result of the February storms.

Most losses occurred in Germany, followed by the Benelux states, the UK and France. Minor losses also occurred in Austria, Switzerland and Denmark.

Poland and the Czech Republic were also affected but are not covered in the Perils’ loss survey.

Perils reported the February 2022 European windstorm series as a single insurance event, due to loss allocation challenges.

Event definitions for reinsurance purposes not being uniform across Europe, as well as meteorological conditions and loss aggregation periods ranging from 72 to 168 hours, were also factors.

• Insurance Times has converted euro amounts into pounds using an exchange rate of £1 = €1.19, which was correct as of 1 August 2022.