PRELIMINARY MONSOON LOSS ESTIMATE OF $180M IN INDIA

Insurance assessors have begun surveying damage in flood-hit Kashmir and Jammu. Monsoon rains have led to 6,768 claims lodged so far in the regions as a result of the flooding from torrential rainfall in early September. Damage from the floods, which also affected Pakistan and Bangladesh, was described as catastrophic by Aon Benfield, which estimated economic losses of more than $1bn, with preliminary damage estimates in India of $180m. The floods have been described as the worst to hit the region in more than a century. Close to 350 villages in Jammu and Kashmir were completely submerged by water, while another 2,500 were partially submerged. Regions of India are prone to flooding during the monsoon season, which lasts from June to September. According to data from Swiss Re sigma, flooding from monsoonal rains in India caused more than $750m in insured losses last year.