Weather & Science

After $70 Billion Hit, Insurers Wake Up to New Risk Pattern

  • Aon says convective storms reached all-time high in 2023
  • Most losses from natural disasters aren’t covered by insurance

Buildings submerged by floodwater following Storm Daniel in the village of Kastro in Trikala, Greece, in Sept.

Photographer: Konstantinos Tsakalidis/Bloomberg
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The insurance industry is grappling with a new kind of weather risk that’s increasingly driving its biggest loss category.

While no single weather event caused more than $10 billion in losses for insurers last year, there were 37 thunderstorms that each cost at least $1 billion, according to a report by Aon Plc. That’s more than ever before and way above the average of 14 such storms in a single year, the insurance broker said.