Water was June's primary element of destruction, causing acombined $27 billion in economic losses in Central Europe, Canada,and India, shows Aon Benfield's monthly global catastropherecap.

Heavy rain from late May to early June in Germany, Austria,Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, combined withoversaturated soil from previous flooding and melting snow, causedfive rivers to overflow. Insured losses are expected to reach $5.3billion, with the bulk of the damage concentrated in Germany.

Flooding in Canada's Alberta Province killed four people andprompted 75,000 evacuations. The Bow and Elbow Rivers becameinundated and flooded downtown Calgary. The overall preliminaryinsured loss estimate is nearly $1 billion, but the economic lossesof $3.8 billion made the June 19 to 24 rainfall one of thecostliest in Canadian history.

In India and Nepal, an extensive monsoon and thunderstorms left5,000 people dead or missing, victim to the flash floods andlandslides that destroyed more than 1,500 roads and bridges alongthe Ganges, Yamuna and Ghaghara rivers and tributaries, all ofwhich feed through the region away from the Bay of Bengal. TheGeneral Insurance Council has predicted that insured losses mayreach $500 million.

Fire scorched Colorado in June with the most damaging blaze toever hit the state. The Black Forest Fire, which took nearly tendays to die down, destroyed at least 511 homes, 71 businesses and14,280 acres of land. The result was 4,500 claims that triggeredmore than $350 million in insurance payouts. Because many buildingswere uninsured or underinsured, economic losses may reach $500million.

Aon Benfield's report also highlights California's PowerhouseFire, which began on May 30 north of Angeles National Forest in LosAngeles and was only contained on June 8. Though insured losses arenot yet known, the blaze could cost $21.4 million in economiclosses. It destroyed 30,274 acres of land, 30 homes and 28 outdoorbuildings.

The Yarnell Hill blaze was the smallest but deadliest of themonth's large U.S. wildfires; it charred 8,400 acres of land andkilled 19 young firefighters. Aon Benfield expects totallosses to be in the millions of dollars.

Wind in the upper Midwest, specifically a 48-hour long derechothat began on June 12, spawned 26 tornadoes and caused insuredlosses in excess of $325 million; and severe weather across thePlains, Midwest, Southeast, Ohio Valley, Midatlantic andNortheast outed power in Minnesota's Twin Cities and may costthe economy hundreds of millions of dollars.