Bermuda-headquartered reinsurer Everest Re Group has announced Q4 catastrophe losses of $695 million, a figure net of reinsurance, reinstatement premiums and taxes.
The group states that these Q4 losses can primarily be attributed to hurricane Michael, the Camp and Woolsey California wildfires, and hailstorms which hit Australia in December.
Michael made landfall along the central Florida panhandle in October as a Category 4 storm with wind speeds of up to 250 km/h (155mph), making it the fourth-strongest storm to ever hit the U.S mainland.
Meanwhile, The Camp Wildfire became the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history after devastating the town of Paradise on November 8, destroying a total of 18,793 structures, killing 85 people and burning through 153,336 acres.
Combined with losses from Woolsey, which AIR calculated late last year, the total industry loss for the two wildfires may stand as high as $13 billion.
In total, Everest sees industry losses from these two events, plus the widespread and destructive hail storm which swept through Sydney in December, as potentially approaching $30 billion.
The group says the figure primarily originates from its reinsurance operations, and as a result is dependent upon the loss reporting from ceding insurers across many underlying insurance policies.
“These losses reflect another year in which there has been an extraordinary level of industry catastrophes and are reflective of our market share,” said Dom Addesso, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
“With $8 billion in shareholders equity and over 40 years of experience, Everest is well prepared to respond to the needs of our clients and the affected communities as they manage the impact of these recent events.”
