ISO: P-C First Quarter Cat Loss Low
NU Online News Service, April 19, 9:32 a.m. EST? Property-casualty insurers recorded their lowest first-quarter catastrophe loss in more than 10 years at $580 million, the Insurance Services Office in Jersey City, N.J. said yesterday.
The figure covered insured property losses for homeowners and businesses from three catastrophe events during the period, according to preliminary estimates by ISO's Property Claim Services unit.
ISO said the previous low first quarter was last year at $705 million.
This year, ISO said, three events in 13 states generated slightly more than 240,000 claims–double the number of claims from three events in the same quarter last year–from one of the mildest winters on record with below normal snowfall, especially in the eastern part of the country.
The costliest catastrophe in the quarter was listed as a January winter storm that caused $265 million in insured property damage in seven states, from Oklahoma to Ohio. (PCS noted that the cost estimate from this storm is under review because insurers are still receiving claims.)
Two catastrophe events in March, primarily in the midsection of the country, caused $315 million in insured damages, PCS said.
Texas had the highest insured loss at $105 million, followed by Kansas ($90 million), Missouri ($70 million), New York ($60 million), and Ohio ($50 million).
ISO's PCS unit defines a catastrophe as an event within a particular territory that causes $25 million or more in insured property losses and affects a significant number of property-casualty policyholders and insurers.
PCS estimates represent anticipated insured losses on an industrywide basis arising from catastrophes, reflecting the total net insurance payment for personal and commercial property lines of insurance covering fixed property, personal property, vehicles, boats, related property items and business-interruption losses. The estimates exclude loss-adjustment expenses.
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