Hurricanes and floods bring US$120b in insurance losses last year

Hurricane Ian in the United States and floods in Australia helped to make 2022 one of the costliest years on record for natural disasters, Munich Re said yesterday, warning that climate change was making storms more intense and frequent.

Losses from natural catastrophes covered by insurance totalled around US$120 billion last year, similar to 2021, though short of 2017's record damages, Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurer, said.

The annual tally by Munich Re is higher than the average of US$97 billion in insured losses over the previous five years and exceeds an initial estimate of US$115 billion last month by rival Swiss Re.

"Weather shocks are on the rise," Ernst Rauch, the chief climate scientist at Munich Re, told Reuters. "We can't directly attribute any single severe weather event to climate change. But climate change has made weather extremes more likely."

Annual insured losses of US$100 billion appear to be "the new normal", he said.

Total losses from natural catastrophes, including those not covered by insurance, were US$270 billion in 2022. That is down from around US$320 billion in 2021 and near the average of the previous five years.

The United States once again accounted for a big portion of the losses with Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida in September, causing US$60 billion in insured damages and US$100 billion in total losses.

Floods in Australia early in the year and again in October resulted in US$4.7 billion in insured damages and US$8.1 billion overall.

Record monsoon rains and faster melting of glaciers resulted in floods in Pakistan that killed at least 1,700 people and caused US$15 billion in damages. Most of the damages were not covered by insurance.

Scientists have said that events in 2022 were exacerbated by climate change and that there is more - and worse - to come as the Earth's atmosphere continues to warm through the next decade and beyond.

Insurers have, in some cases, been raising the rates they charge as a result of the increasing likelihood of disasters, and in some places insurers have stopped providing coverage.

- Reuters