23 October 2015 Insurance

Texas biggest as Florida fades in new PCS cat survey

Florida failed to make it into the top 10 states affected by a catastrophe event this year, according to the latest figures from Property Claim Services (PCS), a Verisk Analytics business.

The historically catastrophe-prone state has insured catastrophe losses of only $34 million so far this year.

Texas is currently the state most affected by catastrophes this year, sustaining a little more than $2.4 billion in insured losses. Massachusetts follows at just over $1 billion, largely the result of seven winter storm events that occurred in the first quarter. Oklahoma and Illinois sustained catastrophe losses of $810 million and $730 million, respectively. Colorado rounds out the top five at $630 million year to date.

Overall, North American catastrophe losses in the third quarter were down by almost a fifth but event numbers rose by 10 percent over the first nine months of 2015.

There were 30 PCS-designated events in the US and three in Canada in this period accounting for losses of $12.6 billion—a fall of 19 percent year-on-year. The third quarter was particularly quiet with only $2.3 billion in insured losses from five events in the US and two in Canada.

No third-quarter events in the US reached the $1 billion threshold, although one event has a preliminary estimate of more than $900 million, at the time the survey went to press.

Personal losses accounted for 73.7 percent of third-quarter activity ($1.4 billion), followed by commercial losses at 16.9 percent and vehicle losses at 9.4 percent. Last year, personal losses accounted for 49 percent of third-quarter activity, followed by commercial at 26.6 percent and vehicle at 24.4 percent.

It noted that the trend toward increasing numbers of smaller events is continuing. Last year’s nine-month total was pushed higher by five events, each of which sustained at least $1 billion in insured losses. This year only three attained that level.

Joe Louwagie, AVP, PCS said: “Sometimes, it’s the nature of catastrophe activity rather than the size that matters. Frequency is up year over year, and while this may not impact the reinsurance market significantly, it can still impact insurer balance sheets.”

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