AIR Estimates Insured Losses between 1.5 and 3 Billion Euros from European Winter Storm Xynthia

January 1, 2011 / 4 min read

BOSTON, March 3, 2010 – Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that insured losses in France, Belgium, Germany, and Netherlands from winter storm Xynthia will be between 1.5 billion and 3 billion Euros. The strong extratropical cyclone (ETC) approached the Atlantic coast of Western Europe on Saturday February 27th, in the northern provinces of Spain and Portugal. It then moved northeast over the Biscayan Sea into central France before losing intensity on its path through Germany and eventually dissipating over the Baltic Sea.

“Xynthia brought with it a potent combination of hurricane-force gusts and torrential rains, causing property damage across parts of Spain, France, Belgium, and Germany,” said Dr. Peter Dailey, director of atmospheric science at AIR Worldwide.

“Within the last two weeks, a cluster of three winter storms—Undine, Wera and Xynthia—moved into Europe only a few days apart, and each of them tracked along a strong southerly jet stream across a region north of the Canary Islands,” continued Dr. Dailey. “Among the three storms, meteorological conditions were most favorable for Xynthia’s development because the storm formed farther south than the other two and therefore was able to tap into an unusually warm and moist air mass. Enhancing the amount of available moisture for Xynthia was the presence of unseasonably warm sea surface temperatures of 14 degrees Celsius.”

Reported observation data for the storm include gusts up to 140 kilometers per hour (km/h) in areas of lower elevation across Spain, France, Germany, and Belgium. At the Brocken weather station in Germany, a peak wind gust of 180 km/h has been reported.

Dr. Dailey commented, “Comparisons have been made between Xynthia and winter storms Lothar and Martin (1999), and with Klaus, which struck southern France last year. However, the wind speeds of Xynthia were generally not as intense as any of these storms. In fact, Xynthia’s wind speeds were closer to those of Herta, which was one of a devastating series of storms that affected Europe over a five-week period in the winter of 1990, though Herta tracked over a region with a somewhat higher density of properties. Observed losses for Herta are about €2.3 billion trended to today’s exposure.”

France was the hardest hit by Xynthia, with the storm uprooting trees, flooding houses, and wreaking havoc with transportation. “Unreinforced masonry construction is common throughout France,” said Dr. Dailey. “At the wind speeds recorded for winter storm Xynthia, AIR engineers expect damage to be restricted to the outer shell of a building including roof tiles, chimneys, and windows. Some structural damage may be observed in older buildings with poor construction quality.”

Many of France’s sea walls, including those around the Il de Re, were damaged or washed away. With the combination of high tide and strong winds, the storm increased sea levels to over a meter above normal and generated waves as high as 8 meters in the Vendee and Charente-Maritime regions. While the storm has subsided, high tides continue to threaten areas where high sea surges have already breached dikes along the coast.

In Germany, severe winds uprooted trees and tore off roof tiles, and fallen tree limbs and signage caused building damage in Heidelberg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Baden-Württemberg.

While the size of individual claims is expected to be relatively low, the overall volume of claims is expected to be significant due to the size of the affected area. Flood and coastal storm surge losses will likely be substantial.

AIR has already initiated a post-disaster survey of damage in the affected regions.

Note to Editors:

AIR’s industry insured loss estimates reflect:

Insured physical damage to property (residential, commercial, industrial, auto), both structures and their contents

AIR’s insured loss estimates do not include:

Business interruption and additional living expenses (ALE) for residential claims
Losses to forestry
Losses to infrastructure
Losses from nonmodeled perils, including coastal surge and inland flooding

About AIR Worldwide
AIR Worldwide (AIR) is the scientific leader and most respected provider of risk modeling software and consulting services. AIR founded the catastrophe modeling industry in 1987 and today models the risk from natural catastrophes and terrorism in more than 50 countries. More than 400 insurance, reinsurance, financial, corporate and government clients rely on AIR software and services for catastrophe risk management, insurance-linked securities, detailed site-specific wind and seismic engineering analyses, agricultural risk management, and property replacement cost valuation. AIR is a member of the ISO family of companies and is headquartered in Boston with additional offices in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.air-worldwide.com.

Release: Immediate

Contact:
Kevin Long
AIR Worldwide
617-267-6645
klong@air-worldwide.com