Insured Losses for Cyclone Xavier in Germany Estimated at $343.6M: PERILS

November 16, 2017

The initial estimate of the insured property market loss for Extratropical Cyclone Xavier, which primarily affected Germany on Oct. 5, 2017, is €291 million (US$343.6 million), according to PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organization that provides industry-wide catastrophe insurance data.

In line with PERILS’ reporting schedule, an updated estimate of the Xavier market loss will be issued on Jan. 5, 2018, three months after the event start date.

PERILS described Xavier as a very fast-moving and violent storm that caused the deaths of seven people in Germany. It occurred very early in the European winter storm season which meant that many trees were still heavy with leaves and therefore were more prone to being blown over than if the same storm had occurred during the winter months, PERILS added.

Damaging gusts occurred along a narrow corridor, approximately 250 kilometers (155 miles) wide, which affected the states of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Berlin, said PERILS, noting that the duration of intense winds over northern and eastern Germany was approximately 14 hours, reflecting the rapid passage of the storm.

Georg Andrea, head of Data Management at PERILS, commented: “Given the storm’s early occurrence in the European winter storm season, a significant part of the damage was caused by falling trees which still had leaves on them. Given the unusual characteristics of the Xavier event, the storm will add valuable loss data to the PERILS Database, allowing users to derive season-dependent vulnerability information for Germany.”

Source: PERILS

Topics Profit Loss Germany

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