PartnerRe: $100 M In Flood Claims

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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PartnerRe: $100 M In Flood Claims

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