Allstate Reports $500M in Losses from Hurricane Irene

Allstate Corp. lost $500 million on Hurricane Irene, the largest publicly traded home and auto insurer in the United States said Thursday, much less than it lost from tornadoes earlier this year.

In total, Allstate said its July and August disaster losses came to $865 million before tax. The company did not break out the source of the other losses besides Irene.

In April and May, Allstate lost $2 billion because of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. That nearly equaled its disaster losses for all of 2010.

Industry estimates on the damage caused by Irene have varied widely, in part because most of Irene’s damage was from federally insured flooding and not privately insured wind effects. Some estimates suggest the total privately insured loss from the storm was less than $2 billion.

Allstate began releasing select monthly disaster data earlier this year after pressure from analysts, who wanted more clarity on the company’s catastrophe exposure.

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Profit Loss Hurricane