PERILS has released its initial industry loss estimate for the floods across Central Europe and Italy from 14 to 20 September 2024, putting the total at EUR 1.89 billion. Most losses occurred in Austria, Czechia and Poland—accounting for about 95% of the total—followed by Italy and Slovakia, with minor impacts in Hungary and Romania.

PERILS has also announced that it will integrate its CRESTA CLIX industry loss reporting service into its current product offering as of 1 January 2025. The initial industry loss report for the September 2024 Central Europe Floods has been produced by combining these two methodologies to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach.

The loss numbers for Austria and Italy are based on the standard PERILS methodology (renamed “PERILS CORE”) which involves collecting loss data from affected insurers which is then grossed up to 100% market level. Loss estimates for affected territories not currently covered by PERILS are produced in accordance with the CRESTA CLIX methodology and are based on the expert evaluation of a wide range of insurance industry sources (renamed “PERILS EXTENDED”). As of 1 January 2025, the combined service offering will enable PERILS to provide loss estimates for large events anywhere in the world with the exception of the US. An updated estimate of the market loss from the Central Europe Floods will be made available on 20 December 2024, three months after the event end date.

In mid-September 2024, the low-pressure system Boris (also known as Anett), caused prolonged heavy rainfall over a very wide area in Central Europe. This resulted in flooding in the Danube, Elbe, Oder and Vistula River basins. Eastern Austria, central and eastern Czechia, and southwestern Poland were heavily affected. The system then moved back towards central Italy continuing to generate heavy downpours over the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Marche, leading to renewed flooding in areas already severely affected by floods in May 2023. In total, an estimated 30,000 people were evacuated and 28 people died due to the floods.

Christoph OEHY, CEO of PERILS, commented: “This large-scale European flood event caused extensive damage over a considerable area. However, the combination of early flood warnings and active flood management before and during the event, coupled with other loss prevention measures implemented since other major floods in Europe, including in 1997, 2002 and 2013, helped to avoid an even worse catastrophe.”