MAJOR CATASTROPHES: UNITED STATES
Property Claim Services (PCS), a Verisk Analytics business, 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. PCS estimates represent anticipated insured losses from natural and man-made 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. They exclude loss-adjustment expenses. Property/casualty insurance industry catastrophes losses in the United States rose to $15.5 billion in 2014 from $12.9 billion in 2013 according to PCS, the second consecutive below-average year of losses. The number of claims reached 2.1 million in 2014, compared with 1.8 million in 2013. The number of catastrophes rose to 31 from 28 in 2013. Munich Re estimates shown below are for natural catastrophes only.
The chart below ranks historic hurricanes based on their insured losses, adjusted for inflation. The second chart uses a computer model to estimate the losses that major hurricanes of the past would produce today according to current exposures.
