7 November 2014 Insurance

Cyclone Hudhud costs $11bn

Cyclone Hudhud has wreaked $11 billion of destruction across multiple Indian states, with insurance losses estimated at $650 million.

This is according to Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development center of excellence at Aon Benfield, which has released the latest edition of its monthly global catastrophe recap report.

Hudhud became the second event in as two months to cost the Indian insurance industry more than Re40 billion ($650 million), as commercial, residential and agricultural lines of business were heavily impacted.

Japan was struck twice in one week by weakened Super Typhoons Phanfone and Vongfong. Phanfone made landfall in Shizuoka Prefecture, killing at least 11 people and causing widespread flash flooding and landslides, while Vongfong resulted in six deaths and caused some structural damage. Preliminary aggregated economic losses from Phanfone and Vongfong were forecast at ¥22.5 billion ($200 million).

Steve Bowen, associate director at Impact Forecasting, said: "With one month remaining in the 2014 Atlantic Hurricane Season, the United States is close to completing another year without a significant landfalling hurricane event. However, insurers in Asia are coping with a series of cyclones that have led to considerable damage across the Western North Pacific and North Indian basins – most notably in India and Japan.

The past two years of cyclone landfalls in Asia, including such storms as Fitow, Haiyan, Hudhud, Phalin, and Rammasun, have shown that tropical cyclones are becoming an increasingly costly peril for insurers with exposures outside of the US."

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