Global: 2024 Nat CAT losses dominated by flood
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Feb 2025
In 2024, the international loss tally for billion-dollar events amounts to $18.2bn, slightly below the indexed long-term average of $19.9bn. Unusually, 78% of the total industry loss figure was due to flood events. According to the Q4 update of the CRESTA Industry Loss Index (CLIX) released last month. CRESTA has also announced that, as of 1 January 2025, the CLIX service will be integrated into the PERILS product range.
This characterises 2024 as “the year of the floods”, while 2023 was dominated by losses from severe convective storms. Both perils are affected by the warming climate, with more energy and moisture in the atmosphere creating the potential for more extreme weather events, said the report.
The report said that in 2024, there were eight international (non-US) CAT events with industry losses in excess of $1bn. These are:
- Noto earthquake, Japan, Jan 2024
- Dubai floods, Apr 2024
- Rio Grande do Sul floods, Brazil, Apr-May 2024
- Southern Germany floods, May-Jun 2024
- Calgary hailstorm, Canada, Aug 2024
- Ex-hurricane Debby floods, Canada, Aug 2024
- Central Europe floods, Sept 2024
- Valencia floods, Spain, Oct 2024
A further two events – the Hyôgo hailstorms in Japan in April, and typhoon Yagi in China and Vietnam in September – currently remain marginally below the $1bn threshold.
The largest non-US event in 2024 was the catastrophic flooding in the Valencia region of Spain in late October. CRESTA currently estimates the industry loss at $3.9bn, making it the highest CAT loss on record for the Spanish insurance market. The vast majority of the losses are covered by the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros, the compulsory government scheme for natural catastrophe insurance in Spain. M