Extratropical cyclone Friederike insured loss estimated at €1.47bn: PERILS
The re/insurance industry loss from extratropical cyclone Friederike (also called David) is currently estimated at €1.47 billion, according to the Zurich-based catastrophe insurance data provider PERILS.
Friederike caused significant damage across the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany on Jan. 17 and 18, 2018.
The initial estimate of the insured property market loss is based on the data collected from affected insurers. PERILS said that the majority of the losses occurred in Germany and the Netherlands.
Friederike's strong winds tore across Western Europe causing severe damage and disruption, bringing the Netherlands and the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony to a virtual standstill.
The storm resulted in the deaths of eight people in Germany, three in the Netherlands and one in Belgium. Friederike was one of the strongest since windstorm Kyrill struck 11 years ago, which at the time generated a Europe-wide insured property market loss of €3.65 billion, based on PERILS data.
On Jan. 31, the German Association of Insurers (GDV) estimated the insured loss from Friederike at around €1 billion, making it one of Germany's costliest natural catastrophe events since 1997. Catastrophe modelling firm AIR Worldwide estimated the total losses to range between €1.3 billion and €2.6 billion.
Eduard Held, head of products at PERILS, commented: “While the market loss from Windstorm Friederike of €1.466 billion is significant, we estimate that there have been 12 European windstorm events in the past 40 years which would have exceeded this figure had they occurred today.
“These events include 87J, Daria, Herta, Vivian, Wiebke, Anatol, Lothar, Martin, Jeanett, Kyrill, Klaus and Xynthia. On this basis, we would estimate that the Europe-wide market loss level of Friederike would be reached or exceeded on average once every 3-4 years. For Germany and the Netherlands alone, however, the return period for the respective market loss levels would be higher.”
PERILS stated that in line with its reporting schedule, an updated estimate of the Friederike market loss will be available on April. 17, three months after the event start date.
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