Flood does major damage to 2016

Flood accounted for nearly 30% of global economic losses in 2016 – a year with significantly high natural catastrophe losses, recent reports show.

According to Aon Benfield’s 2016 Annual Global Climate and Catastrophe Report, released today, there were 315 natural catastrophe events in 2016, generating economic losses of $210bn. This is the first time the $200bn loss threshold has been exceeded since 2013.

Of the 11 nat cat events that caused more than $1bn of insurable losses in 2016, six were caused by flooding.

Aon Benfield Impact Forecasting director and meteorologist Steve Bowen highlighted that the uptick in natural peril losses may be related to climate changing, saying: “When recognising that we have seen a nominal increase in both annual and individual weather disaster costs in recent decades, we recognise that factors such as climate change, more intense weather events, greater coastal exposures and population migration shifts are all contributors to the growing trend.”

He added: “With these parameters in place, and forecasts continuing to signal greater risk and vulnerability, it is anticipated that weather-related catastrophe losses will further increase in the coming years.”