Insurers and catastrophe bond managers will need to wait until after the long Memorial Day weekend before the all important initial loss estimate from Property Claims Service (PCS) is issued relating the catastrophic tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma.
“PCS is closely following the storm system, which is expected to continue producing at least pockets of severe weather into Wednesday,” said Gary Kerney, assistant vice president of PCS. “Given that we are still tracking the system and its potential to create more severe weather, I anticipate that the preliminary estimate of insured property damage from this event will not be issued until the first week of June.”
Kerney adds that the current catastrophe definition from PCS includes the May 21 tornado outbreak.
Separately, initial loss estimates from catastrophe modelers AIR, RMS and Eqecat have yet to be issued.
A spokesperson for Eqecat — which typically issues estimates first — says that the firm does plan to issue an estimate but it is not yet available. RMS said the firm would be releasing commentary “soon.”
PCS estimates, along with modeling firms, are used by insurers and catastrophe bond issuers to determine if an event qualifies as a loss under terms of a contract.
