Insured Cost of April Events Nears $1 Billion, Says Aon Benfield

After a series of severe-weather events—especially tornadoes—in the U.S. in April, global insured losses for the month are close to $1 billion, says Aon Benfield.

The reinsurance intermediary of Aon assesses the month's events in its Global Catastrophe Report, published by Impact Forecasting. Aon Benfield says insurers have received more than 105,000 claims and already paid out more than $650 million.

Leading the most significant events for April 2012 was an outbreak of tornadoes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area during the month's first few days. Less than two weeks later, another severe-weather outbreak spawned 94 tornadoes in the Central Plains, with Kansas, Iowa and Oklahoma getting the worst of it.

A twister outside Wichita, Kan. damaged or destroyed about 777 homes and 165 businesses, says Aon Benfield. More than 25,000 insurance claims have already been filed, and insured losses are expected to reach the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Also of note during April was a round of severe thunderstorms that particularly impacted the St. Louis area. As many as 50,000 vehicles were damaged by large hail, according to the report. The storms also affected Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. In California, agricultural losses were at $20.4 million from hail storms in the San Joaquin Valley.

Yet for all its losses, this April was not nearly as bad as April 2011, when tornadoes caused Aon Benfield to attach a $4 billion tag on insurance claims.

Also in April, Argentina fell victim to severe weather, and flooding was prevalent over much of South America. Tens of thousands of homes were destroyed.