Oakland, Calif.-based catastrophe modeling firm Eqecat said today its high-end preliminary estimate for the insured loss caused by Saturday's windstorm Klaus that tore through France and Spain is up to $6.6 billion.
"Insured losses are expected to be in the range of EUR800 million ($1 billion) to EUR2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) for France, and a similar amount is expected for Spain," the company said.
Boston-based AIR Worldwide, said its insured loss estimates range from EUR350 ($465 million) million to EUR700 million ($900 million) in France. Significant losses are also expected in Spain, AIR said.
Extra-tropical storm Klaus, said Eqecat, impacted northern Spain and southern France with maximum observed wind gusts up to 120 mph in Spain, and gusts up to 114 mph recorded in Perpignan in southern France.
Klaus' track, the firm found, left a path of heavy destruction stretching from approximately Bordeaux to the Mediterranean coast and all along northern Spain.
According to M?t?o France meteorologists, the storm carried some of the strongest winds since records began.
Air Worldwide modeling service Director of Atmospheric Science Peter Daily reported yesterday that along the storm's path, roofs were torn off, signs and awnings downed, and automobiles damaged by fallen trees or collapsed masonry walls.
He noted, "French television footage has shown toppled chimneys and overturned trucks. Large tracts of pine forest were flattened by the storm, most notably in the Landes, a department in southwest France on the border with Spain important for its timber industry."
More than 1.1 million households had power knocked out, rail networks were put out of service, and roads were made impassible by downed trees.
Waves as high as 69 feet were recorded off northern Spain's Basque coast.
Guy Carpenter issued an Instrat CAT-i Report, noting reports that hundreds of thousands of trees had been flattened by the storm in the Gironde and Landes departments.
This article updated Jan. 28, 9:30 a.m.
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