PERILS pegs Babet-Aline storm damage at €691m in 6M update
Storms bringing strong winds, heavy rains and flooding to parts of the British Isles and northwestern Europe likely rendered € 691 million in insured losses in mid-October 2023, the independent Zurich-based nat cat tracker PERILS said in its third estimate for the events.
The sum on storms Babet (Viktor) and Aline (Wolfgang) is up from a prior estimate of €683 million released in January and €509 million as estimated in December. A final update of the market loss from the storm systems will be made available on 22 October 2024, twelve months after the event end date.
The lion’s share of the losses come from the UK at £474 million, chiefly covering flood damage, but the larger estimate covers property lines in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark and Norway.
Low-pressure systems Babet and Aline brought heavy rains and strong winds to the British Isles and northwestern Europe, and a record storm surge along the Baltic Sea coast in northern Germany and Denmark.
Continuous intense rainfall led to flooding in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England’s Midlands and East regions. Storm surge damage along the coastline of the Baltic Sea in Germany and Denmark was significant but not widely covered by the insurance industry. The resulting loss to the insurance industry was dominated by these flood losses with wind losses playing a subordinate role.
Product manager at PERILS Luzi Hitz said: “It has been six months since the Babet-Aline Floods and during that period many parts of Europe and particularly the UK and Ireland, have continued to experience persistent extreme wind and rainfall events. The British Isles witnessed a record number of named storm systems, many bringing extensive rainfall leading to flooding.”
Hitz added: “While the region has seen major winter floods in the past, such as the Desmond and Eva-Frank Floods in December 2015, given milder autumn and winter temperatures there is a greater capacity for water storage in the atmosphere which tends to precipitate as rain rather than snow. It is therefore likely the warming climate will drive a rise in the frequency of winter flood events.”
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