AIR Estimates China Typhoon Insured Losses at $100 to $250 Million

Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that insured losses to onshore properties in China from both wind and precipitation-induced flooding from Typhoon Hagupit will be between $100 million and $250 million.

AIR added: “The high winds and flooding caused by Typhoon Hagupit, downgraded to a tropical storm yesterday afternoon local time, affected 8.73 million residents and nearly 990,000 acres of crops in southern Guangdong Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, according to local officials. The Ministry of Civil Affairs reports that the storm collapsed 27,700 buildings and caused economic losses of nearly two billion US dollars (RMB 13.46 billion). A high proportion of those losses are not expected to have been insured.”

Dr. Peter Sousounis, senior research scientist at AIR Worldwide described Hagupit, “as the worst storm to hit China’s Guangdong province in more than a decade.” However he noted that it had weakened to tropical storm status once it moved inland.

AIR also noted that Hagupit “triggered a reported once-in-a-century storm tide in which water levels rose as much as a meter and more above normal in several coastal cities, including Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Jiangmen and Yangjiang.

Source: AIR Worldwide – www.air-worldwide.com