Aon Benfeld: March U.S. CAT Losses Nearly $2 Billion

Tornadoes have already made their mark on insurers' balance sheets this year, the reinsurance broker reports.

Chicago-based reinsurance broker Aon Benfield's recently released Global Catastrophe Recap indicates that tornado activity in the month of March resulted in $1.8 billion in insured losses.

Produced by Impact Forecasting, the company's catastrophe modeling division, the report says that more than 170,000 insurance claims were filed after a powerful system including EF-4 tornadoes impacted Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio. In addition, a system that hit Michigan with EF-3 level storms added another 20,000 claims to the pile.

"Following an active 2011 U.S. severe weather season, the first quarter of 2012 has also proven itself to be markedly busy," says Steve Jakubowski, President of Impact Forecasting. "Despite the heightened activity thus far, it is nearly impossible to forecast and project losses for the rest of 2012."

The report does not include the recent tornado outbreak in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas.

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio