Total damage is well above the ten-year average of $81 billion, according to preliminary damage estimates, according to a press release Thursday.
2022 will be the second year in a row with estimated insured losses exceeding 100 billion. Swiss Re writes that the trend of the last decade continues, with the total growing by an average of 5 to 7 percent each year.
This year, approximately 45 percent of the economic damage will be covered by the insurance sector. In other words, the total economic loss exceeded 250 billion dollars. According to the reinsurer, there is a “large worldwide coverage gap”.
Hurricane Ian caused the largest loss as a single event, with estimated insured losses of $50 to $65 billion. A Category 4 hurricane made landfall in western Florida in late September with extreme winds, torrential rain and a storm surge.
According to estimates by the “Swiss Re Institute”, insured losses are the second highest in Sigma statistics – after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the densely populated coast, writes Swiss Re.
So-called secondary natural disasters such as floods and hail caused more than $50 billion in insured losses. This was again an important addition to the worldwide collection. Swiss Rec cites winter storms in Europe, flooding in Australia and South Africa, and hailstorms in France and the USA as examples of extreme weather events.
“Extreme weather events led to high insurance losses in 2022, showing that this risk is increasing and affecting all continents,” said Martin Bertogg of Swiss Re. “Urban development, accumulation of value in disaster-prone areas, inflation and climate change are key factors that are causing extreme weather conditions to lead to ever-increasing natural disaster losses.”
When Hurricane Andrew struck 30 years ago, no previous event had caused $20 billion in damage. But meanwhile, there have been seven such hurricanes in the last six years alone.
Swiss Re’s Sigma disaster loss estimates are for property damage excluding Covid-19 damage. (SDA)