2 March 2016 News

Loss potential from storms in Europe becoming more severe: Munich Re

The loss potential of severe thunderstorms is increasing in many parts of Europe, according to a new Topics Geo report by Munich Re.

The reinsurer said that this increase is mainly due to the growing intensity of thunderstorms and the increasing vulnerability of expensive building façades to hail damage.

Over the last few years, severe thunderstorms in Europe have caused a number of losses of more than a billion euros, which Munich Re said is mainly a result of hail, strong gusts and flash floods. The costliest thunderstorm event since 1980, according to the reinsurer, occurred in Germany in July 2013, when powerful hailstorms in particular caused overall losses of $5 billion in today’s values. About $ 3.8 billion of this was insured.

Peter Höppe, head of Munich Re’s Geo Risks Research department, said: “Expensive construction materials and complex building façades are a major contributing factor to the increasing loss potential of hailstorms. Recent studies have also shown that the intensity of thunderstorms and hailstorms has increased in many regions.”

He added: “Rising moisture content in the lower atmosphere is a key driver of stronger thunderstorms – a physical consequence of the long-term warming of the world’s oceans. With values also continuing to rise, prevention is becoming even more important to keep loss levels low.”

Munich Re said that the insurance industry fully supports efforts to improve the strength and resilience of buildings, citing the Swiss Cantonal Fire Insurance Association’s Elementary Safety Register Hailstorm, which establishes the hail resistance of various materials used in the exteriors and roofs of buildings.

In 2015, natural catastrophe losses remained below the long-term average, according to the reinsurer, with overall losses totalling $100 billion, compared with an average of $180 billion for the ten previous years. Insured losses amounted to $30 billion (ten-year average $56 billion). The year’s most devastating natural catastrophe was the Nepal earthquake in April, which claimed the lives of some 9,000 people. The overall losses from the quake were $4.8 billion.

Besides looking at longer-term trends and analysing the year’s natural catastrophes, the latest issue of Topics Geo also presented a new method for more detailed evaluation of historical loss data. Munich Re developed the method to take into consideration the economic development of a region affected by a loss event in the period since the natural catastrophe occurred.

In the case of regional analyses, this enables Munich Re to be more precise about the loss-mitigating effect of prevention measures and about changes on the hazard side such as natural climate cycles or climate change.

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Elliot Field at efield@newtonmedia.co.uk or Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk