US insurers have suffered aggregate insured losses estimated at more than $1 billion, despite subdued US tornado season, according to Aon Benfield’s Impact Forecasting catastrophe report.
The report, which reviews the natural disaster perils that occurred worldwide during May 2014, reveals that four periods of severe weather hit the US during the month with economic losses likely to reach several billion dollars.
The costliest stretch occurred during a five-day period which damaged parts of the Midwest, Plains, Rockies, Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, including the major metropolitan areas of Chicago and Denver.
Despite the losses, by the end of May US tornado activity for the year remained in the bottom 25th percentile of all years dating to the early 1950s.
Steve Bowen, associate director and meteorologist within Aon Benfield's Impact Forecasting team, said: “Large hail and damaging winds left considerable damage in many areas, which served as another reminder of how costly non-tornadic storm events can be for the insurance industry and local governments.”
