U.S. property-casualty insurers will pay $1.4 billion to homeowners and businesses for insured property losses from 10 catastrophic events in the second quarter of this year, down significantly from the year before, according to initial estimates from the Property Claim Services unit of the Insurance Services Office Inc.
This year's figure compares with the $3.5 billion in insured catastrophe losses from 13 events recorded in the second quarter of 1999.
In the past 10 years, the worst second quarter for catastrophe losses was in 1998, when losses hit $4.5 billion primarily because of hail in Minnesota. The lowest second-quarter catastrophe loss, $980 million, occurred in 1997, noted New York-based ISO.
For the quarter this year, insurers received about 550,000 claims for personal and commercial property and automobile losses.
