China flooding caused $33 billion in economic damage last month

(Bloomberg) -- Flooding in China last month caused about $33 billion in economic losses, with less than 2 percent of the sum covered by insurers, Aon Plc said.

760 people dead

The “Mei-Yu” rainfall drenched the Yangtze River basin and northeastern China, leaving more than 760 people dead or missing and damaging or destroying more than 800,000 homes and other structures, the London-based insurance broker said Thursday in a report. Most of the claims made to insurers were for agriculture, Aon said.

“The intensity and scope of what transpired from the associated floods were at a magnitude not seen in nearly two decades,” Adam Podlaha, global head of Aon’s Impact Forecasting, said in the company’s monthly statement on global catastrophes.

Worst flooding since 1998 

Storms and flash flooding in the U.S. resulted in at least $1.5 billion of losses, two-thirds of which were insured, Aon said. Super Typhoon Nepartak, which hit Taiwan, China and the Philippines, also caused $1.5 billion of losses or more.

Related: Flooding in China's Hebei kills 114, causes $2.5 billion losses

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.