Insured Losses From Wildfires, Storms and Floods Hit Record High

Never before has the insurance industry faced such big losses tied to floods, severe thunderstorms and wildfires, according to a fresh study that links rising temperatures to increasingly dangerous weather patterns.

Insured losses for so-called non-peak perils — also sometimes referred to as secondary perils — reached a record $98 billion last year, Munich Re said in a report released on Tuesday. Overall insured losses from natural disasters, including peak perils such as hurricanes, were $108 billion, it said.

Tobias Grimm, the German reinsurer’s chief climatologist, says secondary perils are now “becoming more severe and more frequent in many ...