NU Online News Service, Oct. 12, 11:00 a.m.EDT

Cincinnati Insurance Companies and Selective Insurance Groupcollectively report close to $200 million in catastrophe losses forthe third quarter of this year, a significant portion of which wascause by Hurricane Irene.

Cincinnati-based Cincinnati Financial Crop., says its propertyand casualty group, Cincinnati Insurance, expects its third-quarterresults to include pre-tax catastrophe losses of approximately $88million to $98 million.

Branchville, N.J.-based Selective also notes its pre-taxcatastrophe losses for the quarter stand at approximately $70million. Its estimate is net of reinsurance recoveries andinclusive of reinstatement premium.

Hurricane Irene accounted for one-third of Cincinnati's stormlosses, says Steven J. Johnston, president and chief executiveofficer. The remainder was caused by eight other third-quarterevents. The company's commercial lines insurance segment accountsfor almost two-thirds of Cincinnati's total catastrophe losses inthe quarter.

Selective says Hurricane Irene represents “the majority of thecatastrophe losses at $40 million (approximately $50 million on agross basis).” The balance comes from six additional events in thequarter as well as $11 million of prior period stormdevelopment.

“In my 31-year career, I have never encountered such aconfluence of extreme weather events in one quarter. In arecent Catastrophe Bulletin, Property Claim Services, or PCS,provided a preliminary estimate of Hurricane Irene losses of $3.7billion for the industry, including $2.1 billion in our top fourpremium states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland,”says Selective Chairman, President and CEO Gregory E. Murphy.

He adds that the storms have been devastating “to thousands ofindividuals and we have had Claims team members working around theclock to assist our customers with getting their lives back inorder.”

Murphy observes that these “unprecedented” weather events arefurther evidence that higher pricing is needed.

For his part, Cincinnati's Johnston says, “While Irene caused anestimated $5 billion of insured losses for our industry, carefulmanagement of our company's coastal exposures in these and otherstates limited its impact. Most of our Irene losses stemmed fromwind damage to commercial property we insure in North Carolina andVirginia, our fifth and sixth largest states in terms of 2010commercial lines earned premiums.”

According to Highline Data, for total lines ofcoverage, Cincinnati Financial Group is ranked 23^rd andSelective is ranked 45^th.