Karen Clark pegs US June storms at $5.5bn in insured loss

A severe storm outbreak across the central and southern US in June will likely deliver close to $5.5 billion in insured losses, catastrophe modelling firm  Karen Clark & Company (KCC) has indicated.

A severe weather system was pinned in place for repeat runs from June 10 through 19, bringing 1,557 reports of hail, 93 reports of tornadoes, and 2,719 reports of damaging wind gusts throughout the Central and Southern US. In all, 25 states were impacted.

The system would be enough to fill out the annual statistical quota, if quotas were binding. “Historically, the US has had an average of one severe convective storm outbreak per year with this level of damage,” KCC said.

Texas suffered the most damage, followed by Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. Hail reports included cases of 14cm diameter hail in Texas and over 12cm in Mississippi and Alabama.

Did you get value from this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.