US Severe Weather Insurance Losses Near $2B In June

CHICAGO, July 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Aon Benfield, the global reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor of Aon plc (NYSE:AON), today releases the latest edition of its Global Catastrophe Recap report, which reviews the natural disaster perils that occurred worldwide during June.

Published by Impact Forecasting, the firm's catastrophe model development center of excellence, the report reveals that several natural disaster events occurred across the United States during the month, the most costly being a severe weather event that spawned up to baseball-sized hail in parts of Texas and New Mexico. According to the Insurance Council of Texas, insured losses in the state will exceed USD1 billion, with more than 100,000 claims filed by the end of June.

Meanwhile, a separate hail event in Colorado and Wyoming caused more than $700 million in insured losses, according to local sources.

At least 28 people were killed following a prolonged stretch of severe weather in central and eastern U.S. states, which included a violent derecho – a fast-moving, long-lived cluster of intense thunderstorms – that claimed at least 15 lives, caused extensive blackouts, and resulted in more than 50,000 insurance claims.

In Colorado, two major wildfires ignited and burned during the month. The Waldo Canyon Fire in the Colorado Springs region became the most damaging blaze in state history, killing at least two people, destroying 347 homes (with a combined housing market value of USD110.2 million) and damaging at least 50 others. Meanwhile, the High Park Fire outside of Fort Collins destroyed 259 homes and killed one person.

Steve Jakubowski, President of Impact Forecasting, said: "The Colorado wildfires proved to be the two most damaging fires in state history, and also two of the costliest. Impact Forecasting is the only firm to have developed a brushfire catastrophe model for the western states in the U.S., which allows us to provide detailed feedback to our clients following events such as these, giving them confidence that their exposures are being fully identified and quantified." 

Also in the U.S., Tropical Storm Debby brought days of torrential rain and flooding to Florida, killing at least seven people. The weather system caused significant infrastructure damage and flooded more than 7,500 homes and businesses across the state. Very preliminary economic damages were listed at USD100 million.

Elsewhere, China sustained several natural disaster impacts during June. Flooding in nearly 20 provinces claimed more than 70 lives, damaged or destroyed 175,000 homes and caused an economic loss in excess of USD3 billion. Severe weather and multiple earthquakes caused additional fatalities and damage, and an economic loss of more than USD500 million.

Also in Asia, a weakened Super Typhoon Guchol made landfall in Japan's Wakayama Prefecture, damaging around 500 homes. And extreme monsoonal rainfall in India and Bangladesh killed at least 232 and damaged or destroyed as many as 600,000 dwellings. Flooding was also recorded in Thailand, Taiwan, Afghanistan and the Philippines.

The U.K. recorded separate instances of heavy rainfall, with portions of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales reporting flood damage to homes and other structures. Also in Europe, a rare tornado struck Italy's Venice region and caused USD12.6 million in damage.

Australia sustained severe weather in parts of New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia during the month. A rare earthquake (magnitude-5.2) impacted Victoria, although the resultant damage was reported to be minimal.

To view the full June Global Catastrophe Recap report, please visit the link below:

http://thoughtleadership.aonbenfield.com/Documents/201207_if_monthly_cat_recap_june.pdf

About Aon Benfield

Aon Benfield, a division of Aon plc (NYSE: AON), is the world's leading reinsurance intermediary and full-service capital advisor. We empower our clients to better understand, manage and transfer risk through innovative solutions and personalized access to all forms of global reinsurance capital across treaty, facultative and capital markets. As a trusted advocate, we deliver local reach to the world's markets, an unparalleled investment in innovative analytics, including catastrophe management, actuarial and rating agency advisory. Through our professionals' expertise and experience, we advise clients in making optimal capital choices that will empower results and improve operational effectiveness for their business. With more than 80 offices in 50 countries, our worldwide client base has access to the broadest portfolio of integrated capital solutions and services. To learn how Aon Benfield helps empower results, please visit aonbenfield.com.

About Impact Forecasting® LLC

Impact Forecasting is a catastrophe modeling center of excellence whose seismologists, meteorologists, engineers, mathematicians, finance risk management and insurance professionals analyze the financial implications of natural and man-made catastrophes around the world.  Impact Forecasting's experts develop software tools and models that help clients understand risks from hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires and terrorist attacks on property, casualty and crop insurers and reinsurers.  To find out more about Impact Forecasting® LLC, visit www.impactforecasting.com.

About Aon

Aon plc (NYSE: AON) is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing. Through its more than 60,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to deliver distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon's industry-leading global resources and technical expertise are delivered locally in over 120 countries. Named the world's best broker by Euromoney magazine's 2008, 2009 and 2010 Insurance Survey, Aon also ranked highest on Business Insurance's listing of the world's insurance brokers based on commercial retail, wholesale, reinsurance and personal lines brokerage revenues in 2008 and 2009. A.M. Best deemed Aon the number one insurance broker based on revenues in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and Aon was voted best insurance intermediary 2007-2010, best reinsurance intermediary 2006-2010, best captives manager 2009-2010, and best employee benefits consulting firm 2007-2009 by the readers of Business Insurance. Visit http://www.aon.com for more information on Aon and  http://www.aon.com/manchesterunited to learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.

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