PERILS Updates Industry Loss Estimate for September 2024 Floods
Zurich-based catastrophe insurance data provider PERILS has announced its third industry loss estimate for the floods that affected Central Europe and Italy in September 2024, now totaling €2.192 billion.
In mid-September 2024, the low-pressure system known as Boris (also referred to as Anett) brought sustained heavy rainfall across Central Europe. This led to significant flooding in Eastern Austria, the central and eastern regions of the Czech Republic, and southwestern Poland. The system later moved to central Italy, causing additional flooding in the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Marche.
The updated figure from PERILS is derived from a combination of their standard methodology, now called PERILS CORE, which involves extrapolating data provided by affected insurers to represent the entire market, and the previous CRESTA CLIX methodology, now referred to as PERILS EXTENDED. This method relies on expert evaluation of a wide range of sources within the insurance industry.
“This integrated approach allows PERILS to serve as a single data source for international natural catastrophe industry losses, excluding the United States,” the company elaborated.
This revised loss estimate compares to previous figures of €2.080 billion and €1.886 billion released by PERILS six weeks and three months post-event, respectively.
According to Christoph Oehy, CEO of PERILS, “This event marks the most significant flood loss in Europe since the catastrophic ‘Bernd Floods’ of mid-July 2021. It adds to the considerable international flood loss experienced in 2024, which included the Dubai Floods in April, the Rio Grande do Sul Floods in Brazil during April and May, the Southern Germany Floods in June, the floods caused by Ex-Hurricane Debby in Canada in August, and the Valencia Floods in Spain in October.”
Oehy further commented, “By incorporating CRESTA CLIX into PERILS, we provide a more comprehensive view of the Central Europe Floods. The integration of PERILS CORE and PERILS EXTENDED is a significant advancement for the industry-loss-based risk transfer market. We look forward to collaborating with the industry to explore new possibilities this integration offers and to foster continued innovation in the sector.”
