Aon: Latest SCS losses to reach billions of US dollars

By Rebecca Delaney

May 30 - (The Insurer) - Insured losses from continued severe convective storm (SCS) activity across the U.S. are expected to run into billions of U.S. dollars, according to Aon's latest weekly cat report.

The past week has seen continued persistent severe weather across the southern U.S., with Texas among the worst impacted, particularly following heavy rain in Austin and Houston.

A series of slow-moving low-pressure systems saw multiple waves of storms between May 22 and 26, with more than 470 storm reports submitted to the Storm Prediction Center, predominantly from Texas and Oklahoma.

Central Texas was also impacted by severe weather on May 28, with a long-tracked supercell thunderstorm progressing over 100 miles to reach the Austin metro area. Damage to utility poles left more than 75,000 customers without power.

The substantial hail and wind damage in Austin is expected to be the largest contributor to material losses, Aon said.

Combined with severe weather and flood damage in eastern Texas and northeastern Oklahoma, Aon projected that total economic and insured losses may reach into the billions of U.S. dollars.

Last week, Aon said insured losses from SCS activity across several U.S. states from May 14 to 20 are expected to total billions of U.S. dollars, with a tornado in St Louis alone generating $1.6 billion.

An event update issued by the broker on May 22 pegged total economic and insured losses from hail and wind damage sustained over the central and eastern U.S. from May 14 to 17 as "well into the single-digit billions" of U.S. dollars.

Aon said that as more assessments are completed in the coming weeks, the four-day severe weather outbreak may potentially rank among the costliest in U.S. history on a price-inflated basis.