The catastrophe model development team of global insurance giant Aon (NYSE:AON) said 2015 was a rough year for flooding in the US and UK.
According to the insurer, the USA accounted for two-thirds of all global insured losses in 2015, with last month alone seeing at least 64 people dying as a result of a complex weather pattern that hit parts the Midwest, Plains, Southeast, the Rockies and the Northeast regions.
In all, Aon estimates that total economic losses from December 2015's dreadful weather came to more than US$4bn, with insured losses likely to be around half of that amount.
While the US saw at least 58 tornado touch-downs, people on the other side of the pond has cause to complain about a series of North Atlantic storms that led to extensive flooding across the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland, particularly in southern Scotland, northern England, and Wales, where flood damage was significant.
Preliminary insured losses in the UK have been put at more than £1.5bn – about US$2.2bn – with the total amount of damage done estimated at around £2.8bn (US$4bn).