Four separate severe weather outbreaks swept across the United States during the month of May, which led to extensive hail, wind damage and flash flooding, according to Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model development team in is latest monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report.
Most of the damage occurred from the Rockies to the Mid-Atlantic, and thunderstorms led to catastrophic flash flooding in Ellicott City, Md. for the second time in less than two years, said the report, noting that total combined economic losses from just two of the events were minimally estimated at US$2.3 billion, with public and private insurers expected to cover more than two-thirds of the total. The final figure is expected to be even higher.
The severe weather occurred amid of one of the quietest starts to tornado season in the U.S. – fewer than 450 tornadoes were reported as of June 1, putting 2018 in the lowest 25 percent of years since 1950, Impact Forecasting said.
Additional North American thunderstorm damage occurred in areas of Canada’s Ontario and Quebec, with one event costing insurers nearly US$325 million, said the report, quoting catastrophe analyst CatIQ. Most of the hail and wind damage occurred in Ontario, making it the costliest thunderstorm in the province since 2013.
Meanwhile, flooding along the Yangtze River Basin and elsewhere in China led to over 75,000 homes sustaining varying levels of damage, and total combined economic losses in excess of US$400 million.
The combined death toll from extensive flooding in Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Rwanda since February rose to nearly 400 by the end of May, having affected more than one million people and decimated infrastructure.
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