AIR Worldwide Estimates Industry Insured Losses for Winter Storm Friederike Will be Between EUR 1.3 Billion and EUR 2.6 Billion

January 25, 2018 / 2 min read

BOSTON, Jan. 25, 2018 — Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that insured losses due to wind from Winter Storm Friederike will range between EUR 1.3 billion and EUR 2.6 billion, the majority of which are expected in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Lower levels of loss are also expected in Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, and Sweden. AIR Worldwide is a Verisk (Nasdaq: VRSK) business.

Friederike’s extreme winds tore across Western Europe on January 17 to 19, damaging buildings in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. There were reported instances of Friederike’s winds blowing roofs off buildings.

The UK was first hit by gusts of up to 130 km/h (80 mph) during the overnight hours of January 17 to 19. In Germany, wind speeds reached 203 km/h in mountainous regions and up to 138 km/h in low-lying areas. The storm left as many as 140,000 homes without power and caused travel chaos as it brought down trees onto rail lines and roads, forced bridges to close, and disrupted flights and train and ferry services.

German meteorological services Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) stated that Winter Storm Friederike was one of the strongest since Kyrill struck 11 years ago to the day. Kyrill, however, was considerably larger.

AIR’s estimates reflect wind damage only to onshore residential, commercial, and industrial properties; automobiles; agricultural properties; greenhouses in the Netherlands and Denmark; and forestry in Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

AIR’s modeled insured loss estimates include:
• Insured physical damage from wind to property (residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and auto), including structures, contents, and direct business interruption
• Insured physical damage from wind to greenhouses in the Netherlands and Denmark
• Losses to insured forestry in Finland, Norway, and Sweden

AIR’s modeled insured loss estimates do not include:
• Losses due to coastal or inland flooding
• Business interruption and additional living expenses (ALE) for residential claims for all modeled countries, except the UK (note that clients’ business interruption exposures can be modeled in Touchstone)
• Losses to uninsured properties
• Losses to infrastructure
• Demand surge

About AIR Worldwide

AIR Worldwide (AIR) provides risk modeling solutions that make individuals, businesses, and society more resilient to extreme events. In 1987, AIR Worldwide founded the catastrophe modeling industry and today models the risk from natural catastrophes, terrorism, pandemics, casualty catastrophes, and cyber attacks, globally. Insurance, reinsurance, financial, corporate, and government clients rely on AIR’s advanced science, software, and consulting services for catastrophe risk management, insurance-linked securities, site-specific engineering analyses, and agricultural risk management. AIR Worldwide, a Verisk (Nasdaq:VRSK) business, is headquartered in Boston with additional offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, please visit www.air-worldwide.com.