Global nat cat insured losses up 32% in 2024: Munich Re

Global insured losses from natural catastrophes rose 32% in 2024 to $140 billion, making it the third-most-costly year on record, according to a report released Thursday by Munich Reinsurance Co.

Losses were significantly higher than the 10-year average of $94 billion, the report said.

Hurricane Milton, which narrowly missed the Tampa metropolitan area when it made landfall in Florida on Oct. 9, was the costliest disaster, causing $25 billion in insured losses.

Hurricane Helene resulted in the highest overall losses at $56 billion, of which $16 billion were borne by insurers. Severe flooding from heavy rain in Helene’s wake spread northward into the Appalachian region from Georgia to North Carolina, resulting in more than 200 fatalities.

So-called “non-peak perils” –– which include floods, wildfires and severe thunderstorms –– cost $67 billion, or about half of the year’s total insured losses, and were well above the 10-year average of $48 billion.

“It is striking that, from a long-term perspective, non-peak perils are increasingly fueling the trend of rising losses,” the report said.

North America accounted for 60% of global natural catastrophe losses, a higher proportion than usual and above the 10-year average of 54%. The region’s losses totaled $190 billion overall, of which around $108 billion were insured.

Severe thunderstorms in the U.S. accounted for $41 billion of insured losses, compared with $51 billion in 2023, making 2024 the second costliest year for this peril.

Two severe thunderstorm fronts that struck the Midwest in March and Texas in May, accompanied by numerous tornadoes, caused around $10 billion in insured losses.

Continued convective storm activity in the U.S. was a key driver of losses in 2024, said Mark Bove, meteorologist and senior vice president-natural catastrophe solutions, at Munich Reinsurance America Inc. in Princeton, New Jersey.

“As we continue to create more targets around cities, as we continue to sprawl out and add new targets, the loss potential from these events is becoming much higher,” Mr. Bove said in an interview.

Combined with inflation for labor, materials and other factors, “you have the formula for continued very high losses from these events,” he said.

In Europe, extreme flooding in Spain near Valencia in October caused $4.2 billion in insured losses.