1st Qtr CAT Losses Put at $1.46B
Wednesday, April 16th, 2003 Catastrophe PropertyInsured property losses from U.S. catastrophes in the first quarter of 2003 are expected to reach $1.46 billion, according to the Property Claim Services unit of the Insurance Services Office Inc. The losses compare with $615 million in first-quarter catastrophe losses in 2002 and $680 million in the first quarter of 2001. Jersey City, N.J.-based PCS estimates that businesses and homeowners will file more than 345,000 claims related to the five catastrophe losses in the first quarter of this year. The five events included three winter storms that caused $1.1 billion in insured property damage across 15 states. The other two catastrophes were windstorms that together left $365 million in insured losses. PCS also revised its catastrophe loss estimate for 2002 to $5.85 billion, up $50 million from its original estimate.
