JERSEY CITY, N.J., May 26 – The U.S. hurricane season, which begins June 1 and runs through November, exposes tens of millions of people living along the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast to devastating property losses from hurricanes and tropical storms.
The attached fact sheet is a useful source of background material for your coverage of natural disasters in the coming months. The information is compiled from ISO’s Property Claim Services (PCS) database on property losses for man-made and natural disasters.
The fact sheet highlights significant information on past catastrophic events, including hurricanes, and the cost of insured property damage those events produced. ISO spokespeople are available to provide analyses of catastrophe losses.
AIR Worldwide Corporation (AIR), ISO’s catastrophe- and weather-risk-modeling subsidiary, can also assist you in your coverage of hurricanes and other catastrophes. Using its sophisticated simulation models, AIR can estimate insured property losses from extreme events in real time. In the case of hurricanes, estimates are made prior to landfall. AIR’s scientists, engineers and catastrophe-risk experts are available to comment on the science and financial impact of extreme events.
About Property Claim Services
PCS, a unit of ISO, is recognized around the world as the property/casualty industry’s authority on catastrophe information services. For more than 50 years, PCS has been responsible for identifying and estimating insured property damage from catastrophes in the U.S. PCS’s identification of events as catastrophes provides primary insurers and reinsurers worldwide with a way to segregate property losses that may be subject to reinsurance coverage.
About ISO
ISO is a leading provider of products and services that help measure, manage and reduce risk. ISO provides data, analytics and decision-support solutions to professionals in many fields, including insurance, finance, real estate, health services, government and human resources. Professionals use ISO’s databases and services to classify and evaluate a variety of risks and detect potential fraud. In the U.S. and around the world, ISO’s services help customers protect people, property and financial assets.
PROPERTY CLAIM SERVICES: CATASTROPHE FACT SHEET
Top 10 Hurricanes and Estimated Insured Loss (adjusted to 2004 dollars) :
| Year | Event | Insured Loss |
| 1992 2004 2004 1989 2004 2004 1998 1965 1995 |
Andrew Charley Ivan Hugo Frances Jeanne Georges |
$20.8 billion $ 7.5 billion $ 7.1 billion $ 6.4 billion $ 4.6 billion |
10 Most Intense Hurricanes, Categories 5 and 4 (1900-2004):
Measured by Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Disaster-Potential Scale*
| Florida (Keys) – 1935 | Category 5 |
| Camille – 1969 | Category 5 |
| Andrew – 1992 | Category 5 |
| Texas (Galveston) – 1900 | Category 4 |
| Louisiana (Grand Isle) – 1909 | Category 4 |
| Louisiana (New Orleans) – 1915 | Category 4 |
| Florida (Keys)/So. Texas – 1919 | Category 4 |
| Florida – 1928 | Category 4 |
| Charley � 2004 | Category 4 |
| Ivan � 2004 | Category 4 |
The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Disaster-Potential Scale classifies hurricanes on their intensity and damage potential under five categories, with Categories 5, 4 and 3 being the most destructive. The scale does not measure insured property losses.
A Decade of Hurricane Losses (1995-2004): Number of Events and Estimated Insured Losses (adjusted to 2004 dollars)
| Year | Number of Events | Insured Losses |
| 2004 2003 2002 2001* |
5
2 |
$22.9 billion $ 1.8 billion $452 million $ _ $ _ $ 2.6 billion $ 3.8 billion $ 71 million $ 2.3 billion |
* No wind event met the PCS catastrophe definition — which is a single incident or a series of related incidents (man-made or natural disasters) that causes insured property losses of at least $25 million and affects a significant number of policyholders and insurers.
Top 10 Catastrophes and Estimated Insured Loss (adjusted to 2004 dollars)
| Hurricane Andrew � Aug. 1992 Terrorist attack (N.Y. and Va.) � Sept. 2001 Northridge (Calif.) earthquake – Jan. 1994 Hurricane Charley � Aug. 2004 Hurricane Ivan � Sept. 2004 Hurricane Hugo � Sept. 1989 Hurricane Frances � Sept. 2004 |
$20.8 billion $20.0 billion* $15.9 billion $ 7.5 billion $ 7.1 billion |
* Net of workers compensation and general liability; insurers incurred fewer personal property claims than anticipated.
A Decade of Catastrophes (1995-2004): Number of Events and Estimated Insured Loss (adjusted to 2004 dollars)
| Year | Number of Events | Insured Losses |
| 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 |
22 21 25 20 24 |
$27.5 billion $13.2 billion $ 6.1 billion |
