The Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre (GCACIC), a joint initiative of Guy Carpenter and City University of Hong Kong, today released its fourth annual report presenting the findings of the GCACIC’s research activities from the past year. The report details the findings of 22 projects conducted by the GCACIC, which focus on climate problems in the Asia-Pacific region as well as on a global scale.

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A new briefing has been published with the purpose of informing Guy Carpenter’s approach to hurricane risk in the context of new scientific findings.

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GC Securities, a division of MMC Securities Corp., a U.S. registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC, today announced the placement of the Series 2013-1 Notes, with notional principal at $500,000,000, through a newly formed catastrophe bond shelf program, Tar Heel Re Ltd., to benefit the North Carolina Joint Underwriting Association and the North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association (collectively, the NCJUA/NCIUA). This is the fourth time that the NCJUA/NCIUA has utilized the cat bond market to manage its tropical cyclone risks and the first time that an annual aggregate structure was utilized.

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Here we review all of the CAT-i report events that appeared on GC Capital Ideas in the second half of 2012.

Floods in Eastern Australia, February 1: Ex-tropical cyclone Oswald tracked over parts of Queensland and New South Wales in eastern Australia between January 23 and January 30, resulting in widespread damage from flooding, severe storms and tornadoes. Floodwaters in some areas reached record levels, causing damage to thousands of properties and forcing widespread evacuations.

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Update: Sandy, October 31: The full scope of Sandy’s impacts will still take a day or two to emerge. As storm surge recedes and those affected survey the damage, the last 24 hours have brought new reports of downed trees and power lines, with localized inland flooding, over an incredibly large area from the Mid-Atlantic to the Great Lakes to Atlantic Canada.

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Tropical Storm Isaac, August 30:  Tropical Storm Isaac now carries maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. It continues its slow drift, now to the north-northwest. Storm surge, inland flooding, and inland tornadoes remain as ongoing hazards with Isaac.

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Event Summary

Ex-tropical cyclone Oswald tracked over parts of Queensland and New South Wales in eastern Australia between January 23 and January 30, resulting in widespread damage from flooding, severe storms and tornadoes. Floodwaters in some areas reached record levels, causing damage to thousands of properties and forcing widespread evacuations. A number of towns and cities were affected by severe flooding, including Brisbane, Ipswich, Bundaberg and Rockhampton. Bundaberg was particularly badly hit. The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has reported an estimated insured loss of AUD290 million (USD302 million) from the event as at 4pm on January 31. The 2013 flood event comes just two years after significant flooding hit Queensland in January 2011, which resulted in insured losses of around AUD2.4 billion (USD2.5 billion).

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Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre (GCACIC), a joint initiative of Guy Carpenter & Company and City University of Hong Kong, issued its annual predictions for the 2012/2013 tropical cyclone season for the Australian region. The final forecast is for near-normal activity (12 tropical cyclones) for the region.

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Guy Carpenter has published a new briefing: Superstorm Sandy: Initial Impacts and Implications

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As always, our immediate thoughts and concerns are with those directly affected by Sandy, both in North America, and across the Caribbean. Many areas along the East Coast, and the Caribbean, bear signs of unspeakable consequences from this historic storm. The death toll in North America is now at least 55 (including one in Canada), in addition to the 67 who died in the Caribbean last week.

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Sandy made landfall on Monday October 29, at about 8PM EDT (00:00 UTC October 30), as a powerful post-tropical cyclone or “frontal system.” Maximum sustained winds at landfall were 80 mph, with a minimum pressure of 946 mb. Sandy made landfall just south of Atlantic City, New Jersey, but its effects were and continue to be felt as far away as Maine, Lake Michigan, and Tennessee. The Northeast has not seen a storm of this size or intensity in recorded history. Sandy was different from Irene (2011) because of its size, intensity, approach to the coast and structure.

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Hurricane Sandy has the potential to interact with a frontal system leaving the U.S. coast, causing the development of a “nor-easter” type of post-tropical cyclone. The feature could then drift westward into the northeastern United States this weekend into next week. Interests along the U.S. East Coast should monitor this system closely. A more imminent threat is already underway for Jamaica, Cuba, Florida and the Bahamas.

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