French floods News

Flash Floods Tear Through Towns in SW France, Killing at Least 7 People

Flash floods tore through towns in southwest France, turning streams into raging torrents that authorities said killed at least seven people and seriously injured five others. Some people had to be helicoptered to safety from the roofs of their homes …

Natural Catastrophes Drive Global Insured Losses to $31B in H1: Swiss Re’s Sigma

Global insured losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters during the first half of 2016 reached US$31 billion, or 44 percent of total economic losses of US$71 billion, according to a report issued by Swiss Re’s sigma. The economic loss …

UK Insurers Aviva and RSA Report Higher H1 Profits, Shrug Off Brexit Fallout

Insurers Aviva Plc and RSA Insurance Group Plc shrugged off any fallout from the Brexit referendum by reporting higher first-half profit and increasing shareholder payouts. The shares rallied in London trading. Aviva, the U.K.’s second-largest insurer, posted a 13 percent …

XL Estimates Q2 Cats to Cost $240M, Led by Alberta Wildfires

XL Group Plc, the insurer that expanded last year with the purchase of Catlin Group Ltd., said second-quarter catastrophe costs were probably about $240 million pretax, with wildfires in Alberta, Canada, responsible for about half the total. Flooding in Europe …

Storms & Earthquakes Drive Up Insured Losses in 1H 2016: Munich Re

Economic losses caused by natural catastrophes in the first half of 2016 totaled US$70 billion, a significant increase from the $59 billion reported for the first half of last year, according to a loss review issued by Munich Re. While …

Chubb Estimates Q2 Cat Losses to Rise 54% from Q1 2016

Property and casualty insurer Chubb Ltd. estimated natural catastrophe losses for the second quarter to be about 54 percent higher than the first quarter, indicating another quarter of high losses due to natural disasters for insurers. Multiple weather events in …

French & German Floods to Hit Insurers’ Earnings but Not Ratings: A.M. Best

The earnings of French and German insurers during the first half of 2016 will be dampened by flood claims following storms Elvira and Friederike, which pounded the countries in quick succession between late May and early June, according to a …

Global Disasters During May to Cost Insurers at Least $7B: Aon Report

Global disasters led to at least $7 billion in claims during May as insurers aid the recovery process following wildfires, floods, and storms, according to Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model development team. An historic wildfire caused catastrophic damage in …

Tornado Hits Hamburg – Latest in Europe’s Destructive Summer Storms

A tornado tore through the northeast of Hamburg on Tuesday evening, blowing off the roofs of several buildings, uprooting dozens of trees and damaging cars and a power line as storms that have raged across Europe this month continue to …

Insured Losses from French Floods May Total $682M: Industry Association AFA

Insurance executives meet with government officials in Paris Monday to assess the cost of flooding in the Centre and Ile-de-France regions as the Seine river recedes from its highest levels in more than three decades. The river flowing through the …