From Artemis, January 20:
According to the latest official data from California fire authorities, the wildfires in the Los Angeles region have damaged or destroyed 17,027 structures so far, while the early insurance industry loss estimates from risk modellers average $32.5 billion.
Which would suggest an average insurance claim of around $1.9 million, although this would not leave any allowance for other claims vectors such as business interruption.
Analysts at investment bank Peel Hunt noted this morning that, “There is a risk that insured losses will increase further as the two main fires (Palisades and Eaton) are still not fully contained.”
With new red flag warnings for dangerous or extreme fire weather in place for the next few days, with officials cautioning of the risk of fires growing, there is a chance the damage increases further from these still burning fires.
It’s also worth noting that official data that now states 17,027 structures were damaged or destroyed by these two wildfires may rise whether the burns worsen or not, as the analysis of impacts continues at this time.
“It is still unclear what proportion of insured losses will be retained by insurers in the admitted market, how much exposure has been transferred to the E&S market in the past few years, and what will be picked up by the reinsurance industry,” Peel Hunt’s analyst team said....
....MUCH MORE, including links to other insurance-loss estimates.
The latest best guess from AccuWeather for total damage and economic impact is between $250 billion and $275 billion.
