EU windstorms Dragi & Eberhard final loss estimate raised to EUR 782m: PERILS

The final insurance and reinsurance industry loss estimate for the combined impacts of European windstorms Dragi and Eberhard has been set at EUR 782 million (USD 890 million) by PERILS AG, slightly up on its last estimate of EUR 772 million.

PERILS announced its first estimate for the two European windstorms, which struck on March 9^th and 10^th 2019, of EUR 740 million in April 2019. In June, PERILS raised its estimate by 8% to EUR 798 million, before announcing a slight reduction to EUR 772 million in September.

Now, in its final insurance and reinsurance industry loss estimate for these two low pressure systems, PERILS has announced a slight increase of 1.3% to EUR 782 million.

PERILS final insured property market loss report, which is released 12 months after the event, is based on loss data collected from affected insurers and is made available by CRESTA zone property line of business for all affected countries.

Dragi, the weaker of the two low pressure system storms that tracked towards Europe hit first on March 9^th, followed the next day by Eberhard. Both storms impacted similar areas, mainly affecting parts of Belgium, France, Northern Germany, Poland and northern parts of the Czech Republic.

PERILS notes that the resulting industry loss represented the largest windstorm loss of the 2018/2019 European extratropical cyclone season.

Initially, loss estimates for these two events had been higher, with AIR Worldwide suggesting a modelled loss estimate of up to EUR 1.5 billion, and actuaries estimating that Eberhard had caused EUR 600 million of property damage in Germany alone.

Ultimately, the final industry loss estimate from PERILS is some way off where the market had initially assumed the loss would lie. This will likely be welcomed news to some insurance and reinsurance markets in light of original estimates and despite these two storms being the largest in a fairly benign European winter storms season.