US STORMS CAUSE $1BN IN INSURED LOSSES

Severe thunderstorms and convective weather that struck the central and southern US last week are likely to result in $1bn in insured losses, according to the Impact Forecasting catastrophe modeling unit of Aon Benfield. The storms, which occurred March 26 to 30, featured dozens of tornadoes, large hail and straight-line winds that gusted up to 95 mph and hit heavily populated areas of Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi. A hailstorm that struck Denton and Collins counties north of Dallas on March 26 is estimated to have caused $300m in insured losses by itself, the Insurance Council of Texas reported. Last week’s storm activity could become the fourth billion-dollar outbreak of severe weather in the US this year following events from January 18 to 23, February 27 to March 2 and March 6 to 10, Impact Forecasting said.