PERILS Reports New Industry Loss Estimate
Zurich-based catastrophe insurance data provider PERILS has disclosed its third industry loss estimate for the floods in Central Europe and Italy during September 2024, reporting a total of €2.192 billion.
Event Overview
In mid-September 2024, the low-pressure system Boris (also known as Anett) brought prolonged heavy rain across Central Europe, causing floods in Eastern Austria, the central and eastern Czech Republic, and southwestern Poland. It later moved to central Italy, triggering further flooding in Emilia-Romagna and Marche.
Methodology and Previous Estimates
According to PERILS, the new industry loss figure is based on a combination of the standard PERILS CORE methodology, which involves grossing up loss data provided by affected insurers to 100% market level, and the former CRESTA CLIX methodology (now PERILS EXTENDED), which is based on expert evaluation of a broad range of insurance industry sources.
This new loss figure also compares to previous loss estimates of €2.080 billion and €1.886 billion issued by PERILS six weeks and three months after the event end date, respectively.
Significance and Industry Impact
Christoph Oehy, CEO of PERILS, commented, “The event marks the biggest flood loss in Europe since the dramatic ’Bernd Floods‘ in mid-July 2021, and contributed to the heavy international flood loss toll experienced in 2024, which included the Dubai Floods in April, the Rio Grande do Sul Floods in Brazil in 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 went on, “By integrating CRESTA CLIX into PERILS we are able to provide a more comprehensive event loss view of the Central Europe Floods. The combination of PERILS CORE and PERILS EXTENDED represents a big step forward for the industry-loss-based risk transfer market, and we look forward to working with the industry to explore the range of possibilities this creates and to help drive further innovation in the sector.”
