Artemis, vom 3. Juli 2017

The insurance industry loss from summer hail storm Paul, which struck Germany on the 22nd June, has been put at EUR 400 million by actuaries, the first larger convective weather related insured loss to be seen in the region this year.

Large insurance and reinsurance industry losses as a result of convective weather and hail in Germany and surround areas of Europe have become increasingly frequent in recent years it seems, with a number of larger loss events striking the region.

Storm Paul is not the largest loss, but impacts covered a particular wide area of the country, with hail stretching for hundreds of kilometres, as well as many more localised outbreaks from the same storm system.

Low pressure system Paul passed across Germany on the 22nd of June, following a period of intense heat across much of northern Europe. The system developed convective characteristics and hail storms formed in many areas, in some places converging to form lines of storms.

According to actuaries Meyerthole Siems Kohlruss (MSK) the insurance industry is expecting a bill of around EUR 400 million (approx. US $456m) from storm Paul and the resulting hail storms. That likely isn’t sufficient to significantly hit any reinsurance layers on its own, but it could erode some aggregate deductibles.

Tornadoes, damaging winds and torrential rainfall were also a factor from storm Paul, but it was hail that caused the most costly damage according to MSK.