Flood Risk Management Plans

Since storm Klaus in 2009, we have entered a phase in which heavy loss events are not merely incidental. Moreover, out of the seven events which have represented the most consequential claims experiences since Klaus, six of them are among the 10 most substantial in terms of cost for extraordinary risk insurance over the past 50 years.

CCS publishes statistics on extraordinary risks on an annual basis including detailed information on exposure and the loss rate arising, for both events featuring high amounts claimed and those that are less significant. Against this backdrop, this article examines the comparatively major events which the CCS covered in the past 13 years, from 2009 to 2021.

Storm Klaus resulted in more than 265,000 claims handled and more than 564.1 million euros in indemnities paid out by Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros (CCS). It is by far the most severe episode of extreme winds CCS has had to face and at the time posed a major challenge to the insurance industry as a whole.

On 11 May 2011 two earthquakes took place with their epicentre close to the city of Lorca (Murcia); the first at 17:05, with a magnitude of 4.5 Mw, and the second at 18:47, with a magnitude of 5.1 Mw. These earthquakes caused the death of nine persons and left 300 injured, some seriously, as well as widespread damage to the city?s buildings, which was acute in some of them.

In recent years the media have been focusing attention on bombogenesis events, cut-off lows, heavy coastal storms with high winds and high waves, and even some tornados. These weather phenomena take place occasionally, that is to say, infrequently. Nevertheless, they can in some cases cause high human casualties and have a high economic cost.

Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros (CCS) uses the term "claims experience" (siniestralidad for the Spanish) to describe a set of losses covered under Extraordinary Risk Insurance when they occur in one or more geographical zones within a relatively short time-span, which, in the case of those that are meteorologically induced, ranges from 1 to 7 days. What we have come to refer to as "the Gloria claims experience" comprises loss events that took place from 18 to 25 January 2020, and at its core was the "storm Gloria".

As has been discussed in this and other editions of the magazine, the concept of a closed upper-level low (i.e., a cut-off low) refers to a minimum of geopotential and a pocket of cold air that is cut off from the general westerly current and presents maximum baroclinity in its eastern sector.

In the territories of Castilla y León, the Basque Country, Navarre and Aragon flooding frequently occurs as a result of the river Ebro and its tributaries breaking their banks or this happening in the various rivers in the Basque Country and Navarre on the Cantabrian side of the watershed. There are several reasons that might explain the overflowing of rivers, which include thawing or, sometimes, draining activities, although the main culprit can always be traced back to heavy rainfalls.

Actions for subrogation are one of the most usual brought by insurers against third parties liable for a loss event and, in many cases, when these parties have a civil liability insurer, against such firms.