3rd Qtr CAT Losses Up 300 Percent
Tuesday, October 14th, 2003 Catastrophe PropertyInsurers‘ third-quarter catastrophe losses skyrocketed more than 300 percent from the same period a year ago, boosted by seven events with an estimated price tag of $2.9 billion, Property Claim Services said. The company, a unit of Jersey City, N.J.-based Insurance Services Office, said last year the third-quarter figure was $715 million. The latest quarter‘s losses are exceeded by the $20.7 billion loss in third-quarter 2001, primarily from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Virginia, and by a $4.06 billion total for the quarter of 1998, when Hurricane Georges caused nearly $2 billion in damages along the Gulf Coast. PCS said catastrophe losses for the first nine months of 2003 now stand at $9.4 billion, more than double the $4.1 billion for the same period last year.
