Hailstorms Cost Insurers at Least $1.7 Billion in June
Hailstorms cost U.S. insurers at least $1.7 billion last month, led by damage in Texas where vehicles were pummeled while stuck on the Dallas Central Expressway during an evening rush hour.
The number of claims from the Texas storm has surpassed 100,000 and insured losses will exceed $1 billion, Aon Plc (AON) said in its June Global Catastrophe Recap. A separate hail event in Colorado and Wyoming caused more than $700 million in insured losses, according to the report from the London-based broker.
“Up to baseball-sized hail was recorded in east Dallas and Grand Prairie, while golf-ball size hail occurred throughout the rest of the metro region,” Aon said in the report. “Damage occurred to a high volume of car windshields, roofs, golf courses, the marquee of the landmark Lakewood Theater and glass artwork at the Dallas Arboretum.”
Natural disasters in June, which also include the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado, did more damage than U.S. catastrophes in either of the first two months of the quarter, according to Aon. Insured losses in April were almost $1 billion, including damage from tornadoes in Texas and Kansas, the broker said in a report. The costliest U.S. storm in May struck Oklahoma and caused about $400 million of losses in the state, Aon said.
Policyholder-owned State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. and Allstate (ALL) Corp. are the largest U.S. home and auto insurers. Northbrook, Illinois-based Allstate said today that it will report second-quarter results on July 31.
Chubb Corp. (CB), an insurer of commercial property and high-end homes, said today that second-quarter catastrophe costs may be as much as $240 million before taxes. The Warren, New Jersey- based firm said the costs were primarily related to hail and wind storms.
Costs from disasters reached $20.3 billion in 2011, one of the most expensive years on record, according to Bloomberg Industries.
To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Norton in New York at snorton7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net
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