Insured losses resulting from Windstorm Emma, which struck Scotland, Northern England and areas of central Europe, could reach as high as $2 billion, according to the latest estimate from a risk modeler.
AIR Worldwide Corporation reported today that it expects insured losses ranging from 750 million euros ($1.2 billion) to 1.2 billion euros ($2 billion).
Yesterday, another risk modeler, Risk Management Solutions, estimated lower insured losses ranging from 300 million euros ($457 million) to 700 million euros ($1.07 billion). Mark Prindle, spokesperson for RMS, said that he does not believe the RMS figures will be revised.
AIR said it expects most of the losses to come from Germany, as the southern part of the country experienced the storm's highest wind gusts.
The risk modeler noted that while Emma was not as large as Kyrill, last season's most severe storm, it packed sustained, locally intense winds and was accompanied by severe thunderstorms.
In a statement, Peter Dailey, director of atmospheric science at AIR Worldwide, said, "Though Kyrill's footprint was larger than Emma's, Emma packed higher sustained winds in some locations.
"Additionally, Emma's cold front brought severe thunderstorm activity to southern Germany, which resulted in locally intense winds. As a result, localized damage to individual properties from Emma was generally higher than that from Kyrill, though less widespread."
Most of the damage to residential structures involved damaged roofs. "As expected, poorly constructed agricultural buildings suffered extensive damage, typically to roofs and windows," AIR reported. Well-engineered commercial structures generally withstood the storm, AIR noted.
Guy Carpenter's Instrat unit released a CAT-i report that put the death toll resulting from Emma at 15.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
