PERILS has issued its preliminary industry loss estimate for the flooding in Central Europe and Italy back in September.
PERILS estimates that the insurance market loss from the floods is €1.886 billion. The majority of the losses, approximately 95%, occurred in Austria, the Czech Republic, and Poland, with Italy and Slovakia also significantly affected. Hungary and Romania experienced less impact.
PERILS says that the estimate for floods has been generated using both methodologies to demonstrate the feasibility of the new approach.
An updated market loss estimate for the Central Europe Floods is scheduled for release on December 20, 2024, three months after the event.
The flooding in September 2024 was caused by the low-pressure system Boris, also known as Anett, which generated sustained heavy rainfall across Central Europe, affecting the Danube, Elbe, Oder, and Vistula river basins. Eastern Austria, central and eastern Czechia, and southwestern Poland faced significant flooding.
The storm then shifted back towards central Italy, bringing heavy rain to Emilia-Romagna and Marche, areas still recovering from severe flooding in May 2023. The floods led to the evacuation of approximately 30,000 people and the deaths of 28 individuals.
PERILS CEO Christoph Oehy (pictured above) stated that the extensive damage was mitigated to some degree by pre-emptive flood warnings and active flood management measures.
He said these efforts, alongside other loss prevention initiatives put in place after previous major floods in Europe, helped prevent even greater losses.
“PERILS has used this event to illustrate how the forthcoming integration of the CRESTA CLIX methodology into PERILS will work. It is an early example of how PERILS will report on events as of January 1, 2025 and demonstrates the benefits of being able to provide more comprehensive industry event loss data from a single source for the re/insurance sector,” he said.
The organisation has also confirmed that it will integrate the CRESTA CLIX industry loss reporting service into its existing product line starting January 1, 2025.
The organisation noted that loss estimates for Austria and Italy have been calculated using the PERILS CORE methodology, which gathers loss data from affected insurers and scales it to a 100% market level.
Loss estimates for other territories not currently covered by PERILS are based on the CRESTA CLIX methodology, which draws on an expert evaluation of various insurance industry sources and has been renamed PERILS EXTENDED. Beginning in January 2025, the combined service will enable PERILS to provide industry loss estimates for major events globally, excluding the United States.
What are your thoughts on this story? Please feel free to share your comments below.
