December windstorms in Europe cause $2.25 billion in economic losses

December windstorms in Europe caused $2.25 billion in economic losses, Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development arm of Aon Benfield said Tuesday.

In its monthly global catastrophe recap report, Impact Forecasting noted that Windstorm Xaver was among the major storms to hit Europe last month, killing at least 15 people and causing insured losses of $1.1 billion.

Scotland, Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Poland were the most affected by that storm, according to the report.

Windstorm Dirk also hit in December, bringing heavy rain to western and northern Europe, resulting in insured losses of around $500 million, according to Impact Forecasting.

Damage was worst in the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Poland, while parts of Scandinavia were also affected, the firm added. Combined, Xaver and Dirk caused an estimated $2.25 billion of economic losses.

“The clustered pattern of windstorms seen across western and northern Europe in December has emphasized the importance of being able to capture this phenomenon in catastrophe models,” Adam Podlaha, head of Impact Forecasting, noted in a statement.

North America was also hit by severe winter weather in December, with a storm system in the United States killing at least 18 people and causing economic losses of more than $100 million. In Texas, insured losses were listed at $30 million, according to Impact Forecasting.

Total economic and insured losses from the ice storm that hit eastern Canada and the eastern U.S. just before Christmas are also expected to reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars, the report notes.

Also during December, the Middle East experienced strong winter storms, causing total combined economic losses of about $500 million, while severe flooding in Brazil sparked the government there to allocate $1.4 billion for recovery.

Heavy snow and rain also caused total economic losses of $410 million in China last month, while seasonal monsoon rains caused major flooding across eastern Malaysia.