According to PERILS, severe flooding events in Europe in May 2023 have particularly affected the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and are now estimated to have caused losses to the insurance industry of approximately EUR 377 million.
This is an exceptionally long event duration, but a flood event can cause insurance claims to be filed weeks after the event, so it’s a good way to capture as many claims as possible, even if it’s outside the typical working hours used in insurance. time clauses, and the reinsurance industry.
The industry loss estimate of EUR 377 million is based on reports from Italian insurers and covers property business only.
According to PERILS, the Italian government currently estimates the total economic losses from flood events to be close to 9 billion euros, of which nearly 50% is attributable to damage to public infrastructure.
In May, the region suffered from prolonged periods of low pressure across much of Italy, resulting in repeated periods of heavy rain and flooding.
PERILS explained that the flooding was triggered by two major rainstorms on May 2 and on May 16 and 17, when extreme rainfall of more than 200 mm in 24 hours led to severe flooding and flooding in several provinces of Emilia. Hundreds of landslides. Romagna and Marche regions.
Big cities such as Bologna, Cesena, Forlì, Faenza, Ravenna and Rimini were affected by silted waterways and flash floods caused by rainfall.
The persistence and stillness of the torrential rain resulted in a large amount of local water accumulation, exceeding the capacity of the river and the city’s drainage system.
Luzi Hitz, CEO of PERILS, commented: “The report shows that flood insurance penetration in Italy is low, especially for homeowners and small business risks, compared to larger commercial and industrial risks. However, trying to really understand what exists The protection gap is challenging.In the case of the Emilia-Romagna floods, infrastructure damage constitutes a large portion of the overall economic losses, much larger than expected for a storm or severe convective storm event.
“Consequently, comparing insured losses to overall economic losses is not an accurate method of determining protection gaps, as state-retained infrastructure losses should be removed from the calculations to effectively determine insurance penetration.”
