Kentucky tornado exacerbates losses
At least 74 people in Kentucky have died after a weekend tornado outbreak across eight states flattened homes and businesses in the Midwest and South.
Gov. Andy Beshear told reporters the death toll figures come from emergency management officials and may differ from what county coroners are reporting.
The governor said at news conference the numbers will move because “we have several of our towns in rubble.” In addition to the deaths in Kentucky, 109 residents remain unaccounted for, Beshear said. At least 14 people have been killed in four other states — six in Illinois, four in Tennessee and two each in Arkansas and Missouri — officials have said.
Beshear said 95 National Guard troops are doing fatality and missing person searches.”We hope that they don’t find them. We hope someone connects to them and they’re out there and we just don’t know where they are yet,” he said. “Maybe they don’t have cell service.”
Earlier he described the destruction, saying more than 1,000 houses have been obliterated and one tornado traveled at least 200 miles.
Although ratings agency AM Best expects insurance companies to be able to absorb the losses from the recent and deadly tornado outbreak, supply chain challenges and inflationary pressures may exacerbate insurance losses.
AM Best’s initial viewpoints regarding the tornado outbreak across central and southern US states, state that the severe damage from the tornadoes will dampen underwriting results for US property/casualty insurers, which already have seen severe weather-related losses in 2021. This tornado event is an outlier in terms of insurance events for December, which tends to experience low weather-related losses. The growing number of tornadoes and severe weather events will lead to a re-examination of pricing and supply of aggregate reinsurance protection.
Ultimately, AM Best expects insured losses to be concentrated in the commercial multiperil and homeowners lines, with some losses borne by auto physical damage as well. Given the industry’s robust capitalisation and risk management techniques, the outbreak likely will be an earnings event for the industry. In particular, the Kentucky insurance market is not concentrated, and so losses may be spread out among insurers. AM Best will monitor affected insurance companies as more clarity on losses becomes apparent.
