PartnerRe: $100 M In Flood Claims

NU Online News Service, Aug. 19, 11:45 a.m.EST?PartnerRe Ltd. in Pembroke, Bermuda announced Fridaythat claims from its exposures from flooding in Europe will beroughly $100 million.

"As a significant reinsurer of European catastrophe risks, weexpect this to be a substantial event for PartnerRe," saidPresident and CEO Patrick Thiele in a statement.

"Our estimate is very preliminary and is based on muchuncertainty," he added, promising an update of the exposureestimate as the company receives further information.

In its announcement, PartnerRe said that precipitation inseveral areas of eastern and central Europe was the highest it'sbeen in more than a century, and that the Elbe river had risen toits highest level since 1845.

Separately, last week, Swiss Re reported on its Web site thatinitial estimates of economic losses for Austria, Germany and theCzech Republic exceed 5 billion euros ($4.9 billion).

The Swiss Re report went on to say that insured loss would besignificantly less?perhaps in the range of 10-to-20 percent ofeconomic losses?citing historical information for past significantflood events in 1997 and 1999.

The report did not disclose Swiss Re's potential exposure.