Typhoon Hagibis losses to range USD7-11 billion

Catastrophe risk modeling company RMS has estimated insured losses stemming from Typhoon Hagibis in Japan will be between USD7 billion to USD11 billion. This estimate includes property damage and business interruption caused by typhoon wind and typhoon flood to residential, commercial, industrial, marine, and automobile lines, and includes both the private and kyosai/mutual markets. Additional factors for post-event loss amplification and non-modeled losses include demand surge and claims inflation impacts associated with overlapping of areas impacted by the recent Typhoon Faxai, and widespread damage to infrastructure.

The industry loss estimate is informed based on analysis of the RMS reconstructed wind field and flood footprint. The circumstances of this event–chiefly, Typhoon Faxai hitting one month earlier and the ensuing widespread flooding–make Hagibis a complex event to model. Margaret Joseph, senior product manager of the RMS Japan Typhoon Model, said in a statement, “The combined losses from the two recent storms, Typhoon Hagibis and Typhoon Faxai, could rival insured losses from Typhoon Jebi that struck Japan last year.”