PERILS places final industry loss estimate for Babet-Aline floods and storms at €639m

Zurich-domiciled catastrophe insurance data provider, PERILS, has released its final industry loss estimate of €639 million for the floods and storms caused by low-pressure systems Babet (Viktor) and Aline (Wolfgang) over the British Isles and northwestern Europe from October 18th to 22nd, 2023.

This new loss figure compares to the previous PERILS estimates of €691 million released in April 2024, €683 million released in January 2024, and €509 million released six weeks after the event.

As usual, PERILS’ loss estimates cover the property line of business and are based on loss data collected from the affected insurance markets including Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, and Norway.

However, the UK incurred the majority of the losses from Babet-Aline of £495 million. Flooding was the dominant cause of loss in the UK and Ireland, with wind damage playing a subordinate role.

Meanwhile, wind damage was the dominant contributor to the insurance loss in Germany, Denmark, and Norway, despite severe storm surge damage along the Baltic coast in Germany and Denmark.

However, these losses are not widely covered in Germany and are not covered by the private insurance industry in Denmark, notes PERILS.

To recap, Babet and Aline brought several days of extreme weather to the British Isles and northwestern Europe, with long periods of heavy rains and high winds caused by a blocking high-pressure area over Scandinavia. This led to a stationary situation and incessant rain over Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England’s Midlands and East regions.

Luzi Hitz, Product Manager at PERILS, commented, “The Babet-Aline floods and storms are a good example to illustrate the different approaches to flood insurance across Europe.

“In Norway, flood coverage is included by law in every property policy, while in the UK and Ireland, flood coverage in property policies is widely offered by the insurance industry on a voluntary basis. In Germany, flood insurance is optional with many insureds in exposed areas not taking up the option to save on premium costs. Finally, in Denmark, flood damage from rivers, lakes and seawater is covered by the Danish “Naturskaderadet” government scheme.”

“The diversity of flood insurance solutions represents an opportunity for the insurance industry to learn from the different approaches to find the most effective flood insurance strategy for their respective markets.

“With an increasing number of European flood events causing severe losses to households and businesses, this is more important than ever,” he continued.

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