And that’s just the first six months!
After an unusually cold, snowy and long winter in parts of the Northeastern U.S. and Canada, and a brutal tornado season in the Midwestern and Southern U.S., natural catastrophes have resulted in $8 billion in insured losses for North America from January to June 2015.
According to Munich Re, the costliest global natural catastrophe this year was the series of snow storms that struck the Northeast at the end of February, resulting in $1.8 billion in insured losses.
With winter lasting longer than usual the spring tornado season in the U.S. was delayed- but that did little to diminish the severity of the storms or damages. In May, the number of dangerous storms increased, with tornadoes up to the second highest category of EF-4 and with wind speeds of up to 190 mph.
However, winter storms and tornadoes aren’t the only events costing the insurance industry. Severe storms, including hail and flooding between April and June in the Southern U.S. caused overall losses of $6.5 billion, of which $4.8 billion was insured.
