Hurricane Irene accounted for one-third of Cincinnati's storm losses, says Steven J. Johnston, president and chief executive officer. The remainder was caused by eight other third-quarter events. The company's commercial lines insurance segment accounts for almost two-thirds of Cincinnati's total catastrophe losses in the quarter.

Selective says Hurricane Irene represents “the majority of the catastrophe losses at $40 million (approximately $50 million on a gross basis).” The balance comes from six additional events in the quarter as well as $11 million of prior period storm development.

“In my 31-year career, I have never encountered such a confluence of extreme weather events in one quarter. In a recent Catastrophe Bulletin, Property Claim Services, or PCS, provided a preliminary estimate of Hurricane Irene losses of $3.7 billion for the industry, including $2.1 billion in our top four premium states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland,” says Selective Chairman, President and CEO Gregory E. Murphy.

He adds that the storms have been devastating “to thousands of individuals and we have had Claims team members working around the clock to assist our customers with getting their lives back in order.”

Murphy observes that these “unprecedented” weather events are further evidence that higher pricing is needed.

For his part, Cincinnati's Johnston says, “While Irene caused an estimated $5 billion of insured losses for our industry, careful management of our company's coastal exposures in these and other states limited its impact. Most of our Irene losses stemmed from wind damage to commercial property we insure in North Carolina and Virginia, our fifth and sixth largest states in terms of 2010 commercial lines earned premiums.”

According to Highline Data, for total lines of coverage, Cincinnati Financial Group is ranked 23^rd and Selective is ranked 45^th.