NU Online News Service, May 12, 2:50 p.m. EDT

A new data aggregator estimated today that the insured loss from January's Windstorm Klaus that struck the heart of Europe was more than $2 billion, a lower figure than modelers projected.

Zurich-based PERILS AG said its loss estimate for Windstorm Klaus stands at EUR1.55 billion (U.S. $2.11 billion at the current exchange rate).

PERILS AG will be providing information to subscribers. The operation's shareholders consist of Allianz, AXA, Groupama, Guy Carpenter, Munich Re Group, PartnerRe, Swiss Re and Zurich.

PERILS said that $2.11 billion is its initial estimate for the property insurance market loss from the storm that struck Europe on Jan. 23 and 24 of this year.

The loss estimate includes the nine countries the modeler covers: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Luzi Hitz, PERILS' newly appointed chief executive officer, said in a statement, "Although not yet in operational mode, PERILS has decided to publish its estimates for Windstorm Klaus during 2009 as an illustration of its methodology and to allow future subscribers to better evaluate the benefits of PERILS."

The firm said it will begin producing loss estimates for subscribers in earnest by 2010.

PERILS' estimate is less than that of Oakland, Calif.-based Eqecat, which gave a range back in January between EUR800 million and EUR2.5 billion ($1 billion and $3.3 billion at the January exchange rate) for France and the same amount for Spain, for a total of between $2 billion and $6.6 billion.

Boston-based AIR Worldwide put its estimate range at the time between EUR350 million and EUR700 million ($465 million and $900 million) in France alone.

The storm had winds measured at up to 120 mph leaving a path of heavy destruction throughout Europe.

More than 1.1 million homes were reported without power at the time, rail networks were knocked out, and roads were impassible because of downed trees.

Waves as high as 69 feet were reported off of northern Spain's Basque Coast.

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