French Insurance Association Ups Storm Loss Estimates

Federation Francaise des Societes d’Assurance (FFSA) president Denis Kessler said yesterday that the loss estimates from last winter’s storms, Lothar and Martin, would top 45 billion francs ($6.4 billion) exceeding the original estimates by more than a third.

Kessler offered the following breakdown of loss estimates: FF 22 billion ($3.12 billion) in damages to buildings and property; FF12 billion ($1.7 billion) industrial and commercial losses; FF 6 billion ($851 million) agricultural losses; FF 3 billion ($425 million) flood related damages and FF 2 billion ($284 million) in loss and damage to motor vehicles. The FFSA figures cover only damages insured by the private sector, and do not include the several billion dollars spent by the SNCF, the state rail corporation, the EDF, the public electric company, and the government authorities in charge of roads, public buildings, parks and national monuments, to repair infrastructure, and reopen routes.