Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model development team's latest Global Catastrophe Recap report reveals that worldwide economic and insured losses during the month were once again largely driven by several major severe weather outbreaks in the United States. Large hail, tornado touchdowns, straight-line winds and isolated flash flooding all contributed to an aggregated economic loss that was expected to exceed US$3bn. Of that total, public and private insurance entities were expected to minimally cover at least US$2bn.

The most significant event from a financial perspective occurred on June 11 across parts of the Upper Midwest, where a series of powerful and fast-moving thunderstorms left a trail of damage in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Among the hardest-hit areas was the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan region, where substantial wind and hail damage affected homes, businesses, and vehicles. Insurance payouts from this event alone were likely to approach US$1bn; while the overall economic cost was estimated at around US$1.4nn.

Adam Podlaha, Global Head of Impact Forecasting, said: “Costly impacts resulting from severe convective storms were not solely confined to the United States in the month of June. Parts of Europe – notably Germany – incurred a significant cost resulting from large hail as the industry continues to get a better handle on using catastrophe models to further understand impacts from the peril. Lightning was also the primary cause of several major wildfires in South Africa; expected to result in one of the costliest payouts for a natural disaster in the local industry’s history.”

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