Affecting more people globally than any other peril, according to Swiss Re, floods resulted in a combined economic loss of more than $80 billion in 2021. Of those losses, around $20 billion was insured, indicating a large global protection gap. "Flood was once viewed as an 'uninsurable' risk by the private insurance market but improvements in technology and modeling have changed all that," Matt Junge, head of property underwriting U.S. Regional, Swiss Re, said in a statement. "Over the past few years more than a million homes have been able to purchase flood cover from the private market and the industry stands ready to continue to reduce the insurance protection gap." Recurring high losses from floods and other secondary perils, such as wildfires and severe convective storms, have been elevating insured losses during the past five years. Swiss Re defines secondary perils as events that happen relatively frequently, and typically generate low- to medium-sized losses. The reinsurer reported it doesn't expect higher loss growth rates to become a new normal, the "regular occurrence of multi-billion insured loss outcomes from secondary peril events is new." In 2021, Winter Storm Uri and the European floods each caused more than $10 billion in losses. Overall, secondary perils accounted for 73% of all natural catastrophe-related insured losses during 2021, according to Swiss Re. The above slideshow reveals more details from Swiss Re's report "Natural catastrophes in 2021: the floodgates are open." Related:

• States with the highest flood insurance costs
• What to do about the crisis of underinsurance
• Embedded insurance: A potential solution for the underinsured