P-C Insurers CAT Loss For Quarter: $4.9 Billion

NU Online News Service, July 28, 12:28 p.m.EDT?Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes that ripped throughportions of the nation caused an estimated $4.9 billion insuredloss claims during the second quarter, Property Claims Servicessaid.

The company, a unit of the Jersey City, N.J. based InsuranceServices Office, said the $4.9 billion is the second-highest for asecond quarter period in the last nine years. In second-quarter2001, nine events caused $6.2 billion in insured losses, makingthat quarter the worst second-quarter for weather catastrophelosses since 1994.

PCS said catastrophe losses for first-half 2003 now stand at$6.3 billion, compared with $3.4 billion for the first six monthsof 2002 and $6.9 billion in first-half 2001.

According to the company the second quarter produced anear-record number of auto, residential and commercial policyclaims. Catastrophe claims frequency from policyholders in 23affected states was said to be the fourth highest for a secondquarter since 1998--the year in which a severe hailstorm struckMinnesota.

The second-quarter losses spiked upward after severethunderstorms and tornadoes battered 18 states from May 2 to 11.Insured losses from those storms, PCS said, now stand at $3.13billion, up $1.58 billion following the unit's resurvey of itspreliminary $1.55 billion May estimate.

PCS said it resurveys catastrophe losses about 60 days afterissuing its preliminary estimate whenever losses exceed $250million or when the specific circumstances relating to acatastrophe require additional analysis.

Among the states sustaining losses, Texas topped the list forinsured losses in the quarter at $1.18 billion, followed byOklahoma at $1.07 billion, Tennessee at $770 million, Missouri at$455 million and North Carolina at $205 million, PCS said.

PCS defines a catastrophe as an event that causes $25 million ormore in insured property losses and affects a significant number ofproperty-casualty policyholders and insurers.