









2019 natural catastrophes

Insured losses due to natural disasters in the United States in 2019 totaled $25.5 billion, according to Munich Re, down from about $52 billion total for 2018. Severe thunderstorms, with about $20 billion in insured losses, accounted for 80 percent of natural disaster insured losses in 2019. Winter storms and cold waves and tropical cyclones each caused about $2 billion in insured losses, or 8 percent of total insured losses. Floods, earthquakes and other disasters accounted for the remainder of 2019 natural disaster losses.es.











2019 natural and man-made catastrophes

Property Claim Services (PCS®), a Verisk Analytics® business, defines a catastrophe as a natural or man-made event that causes $25 million or more in insured property losses and affects a significant number of property/casualty (P/C) policyholders and insurers. PCS estimates represent anticipated insured losses from catastrophes on an industrywide basis, reflecting insurance payments before salvage, subrogation or reinsurance for personal and commercial property lines of insurance covering fixed property, vehicles, boats, related-property items, business interruption and additional living expenses. PCS estimates do not include loss adjustment expenses. P/C insurance industry catastrophe losses in the United States in 2019 dropped by about half (52 percent) to $24.4 billion from $50.9 billion in 2018, according to PCS. Insured losses in 2017 were the highest since PCS began collecting insured loss data in 1949. The number of catastrophes rose to 61 in 2019 from 55 in 2018. The number of catastrophes in 2019 was the highest number of catastrophes in any year with a threshold of $25 million or more in insured losses.











Natural Catastrophe Losses In The United States, 2019 (1) ($ millions) Event Number of events (2) Fatalities Overall losses Insured losses (3) Severe thunderstorm 49 70 $27,000 $20,300 Winter storms and cold waves 16 73 7,400 2,100 Tropical cyclone 5 16 3,900 1,900 Wildfire, heat waves, and drought 9 11 1,300 830 Flood, flash flood 9 7 10100 200 Earthquake and geopyhsical 2 3 180 50 Total 90 180 $49,900 $25,500 (1) As of May, 2020.

(2) Events that have caused at least one fatality or losses of $3 million or more.

(3) Sourced from Property Claim Services based on property losses including, if applicable, agricultural, offshore, marine, aviation and National Flood Insurance Progam losses; may differ from data shown elsewhere. Source: © 2020 Munich Re, NatCatSERVICE, Property Claim Services®, a unit of ISO®, a Verisk Analytics® business. View Archived Tables

Below are charts from Munich Re, which include flood insurance losses in its calculations. The reinsurer estimated insured natural catastrophe losses in the United States for 2018 at $52 billion.











U.S., total catastrophes

The Property Claim Services (PCS) division of Verisk Analytics defines a catastrophe as an event that causes $25 million or more in insured property losses and affects a significant number of property/casualty policyholders and insurers. The estimates in the following chart represent anticipated insured losses from catastrophes on an industrywide basis, reflecting the total net insurance payment for personal and commercial property lines of insurance covering fixed property, vehicles, boats, related-property items, business interruption and additional living expenses.











Estimated Insured Property Losses, U.S. Catastrophes, 2010-2019 (1) Year Number of

catastrophes Number of claims

(millions) Dollars when occurred

($ billions) In 2019 dollars (2)

($ billions) 2010 34 2.4 $14.3 $16.7 2011 30 4.9 33.6 38.5 2012 26 4.0 35.0 39.3 2013 29 1.8 12.9 14.2 2014 32 2.1 15.5 16.8 2015 40 2.0 15.2 16.4 2016 43 3.0 21.7 23.0 2017 46 5.3 106.5 111.0 2018 55 3.0 50.0 50.9 2019 61 2.3 24.4 24.4 (1) Includes catastrophes causing insured property losses of at least $25 million in 1997 dollars and affecting a significant number of policyholders and insurers. Excludes losses covered by the federally administered National Flood Insurance Program. As of April 17, 2020.

(2) Adjusted for inflation through 2019 by the Insurance Information Institute using the GDP implicit price deflator. Source: Property Claim Services® (PCS®), a unit of ISO®, a Verisk Analytics® company; Bureau of Economic Analysis. View Archived Tables

The chart below shows insured losses for the top 10 U.S. catastrophes in dollars when they occurred and in 2019 dollars, adjusted for inflation. Insured losses for the catastrophic hurricanes of 2017—Maria, Irma and Harvey—are represented as a range. This is because factors such as the severity of the losses and the fact that the storms happened in rapid succession—which strained resources in the claim settlement process—have hindered the development of final estimates. The amount of insured losses for Irma in Florida are still to be determined; claims have been reopened, and business interruption losses for all three storms are still being settled. The Insurance Information Institute has developed the ranges after studying estimates from catastrophe modelers and other organizations. Losses for one event in 2018—Hurricane Michael—are included in the chart with losses represented by a range as claims remain open.











Top 10 Costliest Catastrophes, United States (1) ($ millions) Estimated insured property loss Rank Date Peril Location Dollars when occurred In 2019 dollars (2) 1 Aug. 2005 Hurricane Katrina AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, TN $41,100 $52,828 2 Sep. 2017 Hurricane Maria (3) PR, USVI 25,000-30,000 26,100-31,300 3 Sep. 2017 Hurricane Irma (3) AL, FL, GA, NC, PR, SC, USVI 25,000-30,000 26,100-31,300 4 Aug. 2017 Hurricane Harvey (3) AL, LA, MS, NC, TN, TX 18,000-20,000 18,800-20,800 5 Sep. 2001 September 11: Fire, Explosion: World Trade Center,

Pentagon terrorist attacks NY, VA 18,779 26,431 6 Oct. 2012 Hurricane Sandy CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH,

NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VA, VT, WV 18,750 21,065 7 Aug. 1992 Hurricane Andrew FL, LA 15,500 25,867 8 Jan. 1994 Northridge, CA earthquake CA 12,500 19,952 9 Sep. 2008 Hurricane Ike AR, IL, IN, KY, LA, MO, OH, PA, TX 12,500 14,898 10 Oct. 2018 Hurricane Michael (3) AL, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA 9,000-12,000 9,200-12,200 (1) Property losses only. Excludes flood damage covered by the federally administered National Flood Insurance Program. Ranked on dollars when occurred. As of April 17, 2020.

(2) Adjusted for inflation through 2019 by the Insurance Information Institute using the GDP implicit price deflator.

(3) Insurance Information Institute estimate based on data from catastrophe risk modelers, reinsurance companies, the Property Claims Services unit of Verisk Analytics, the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. These estimates are preliminary because the organizations involved periodically resurvey the events, and the severity of losses and other factors create a high level of uncertainty surrounding the ultimate loss figures. Source: Insurance Information Institute, catastrophe risk modelers, reinsurance companies, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation,

the Property Claim Services® (PCS®) unit of ISO®, a Verisk Analytics® company, and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. View Archived Tables











U.S. Inflation-Adjusted Cat Losses, 1980-2018 us_inflation-adjusted_cat_losses.gif *2018: Inflation-adjusted estimate, subject to change. 2010s is average of 2010 to 2018. Note: As of Feb. 14, 2019. Sources: Property Claims Service, a Verisk Analytics business; Insurance Information Institute.











2019 catastrophes

Insured losses by state were highest in Texas in 2019, with $7.2 billion in losses from 583,050 claims.

Illinois ranked second with $1.7 billion in insured losses and 168,100 claims.