It Figures

$100 Million
Insured losses from the storm that spawned tornadoes and large hail over portions of the Dallas – Fort Worth area on April 13, have been set at approximately $100 million, the Insurance Council of Texas reported. Twenty thousand homes and nearly 30,000 automobiles were damaged by hail and high winds. The original figure of $25 million was revised after initial reports quadrupled one week following the storm. Insurers currently are assessing the damage from a second round of storms that plowed through the state April 24.

$1.22 Billion
Severe tornadoes in several southern states helped push U.S. property/casualty catastrophe losses to around $1.22 billion during the first quarter of 2007, according to the industry’s Property Claim Services (PCS), a unit of Insurance Services Office. PCS also estimated that the four winter storms and three severe weather events produced nearly 204,000 claims in 18 states from California to Florida during the period. Of the 18 states, the five with the largest insured property losses were Georgia ($285 million), Alabama ($175 million), Texas ($167 million), Missouri ($140 million), and Florida ($100 million).

56%
A team of researchers at North Carolina State University has estimated there’s a 56 percent chance that a major hurricane will strike the Gulf Coast, and a 10 percent chance of a major hurricane striking the southeast coast. The team projected 16 to 17 named storms would form in the Atlantic basin, including eight to nine hurricanes. Two or three hurricanes will make landfall on the East Coast, and one or two could strike the Gulf Coast. Another NCSU research team predicts 12 to 13 named storms and eight to nine hurricanes developing in the Atlantic Basin, including four or five major hurricanes. The second squad of researchers said there is a 75 percent chance of a hurricane making landfall along the eastern seaboard and an equally strong chance of a hurricane hitting the Gulf of Mexico coastline. Source: AP

21%
Willis Group Holdings Limited reported a 21 percent increase in net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, over the same period a year earlier. Net income for the quarter was $169 million compared with $140 million in Q1 2006. Earnings per diluted share increased 25 percent to $1.10 in the first quarter 2007 from $0.88 a year ago. Total reported revenues for the quarter were $739 million compared with $671 million for the same period last year, an increase of 10 percent.