Last year produced the second greatest frequency of insurance catastrophes since 1998, the Insurance Services Office said, noting a loss to insurers of $8.8 billion from 33 events.
ISO's Property Claims Service estimates that policyholders filed 2,272,000 claims for damage to commercial properties and vehicles.
Personal lines claims accounted for 58 percent of the total, while commercial lines claims were at 9 percent and vehicle claims at 33 percent.
The 33 catastrophes caused damage in 34 states and the District of Columbia. Indiana incurred the most damages pegged at $1.5 billion.
Missouri, Tennessee, Texas and Kansas made up the rest of the top five states, whose losses represent about half of the incurred catastrophe damage.
Losses from catastrophe events declined sharply last year, but were nonetheless at their sixth highest level since 1997. In terms of frequency, the 33 events last year came in second to the 37 in 1998.
Tropical Storm Ernesto represented the only catastrophe-level storm of 2006, incurring $250 million of insured property damage.
Last year included 10 storms of which five were hurricanes; two reached major status.
"These numbers reflect the long-term average for tropical systems," the PCS report said.
The fourth quarter of last year ended with six catastrophes, the highest frequency since 1998.
Three of the six events resulted from severe weather, including wind, hail, tornadoes and flooding, while two were classified by PCS as winter storms, since the perils included freezing snow and ice.
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