LA Wild Fires

According to Bloomberg, Wildfires that have ravaged swaths of Los Angeles could result in losses of as much as $30 billion for the insurance industry as the blazes rage on almost a week after they ignited.

The new estimates from Wells Fargo & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts significantly exceed last week’s highest prediction from JPMorgan Chase & Co. that the fires stood to cost insurers roughly $20 billion.

Home-insurance providers will bear the brunt of the cost. Allstate Corp., Chubb Ltd., American International Group. and Travelers Cos are the most exposed among the firms covered by Wells Fargo analysts, according to a note the bank sent to clients Jan. 12.

Source: The Guardian la fire fd la

Also, Tokio Marine Holdings, which I use to write some commercial insurance with, presided Satoru Komiya said it is too early to estimate the impact of the LA wildfires on the insurer’s business performance. Sounds to me like more than one industry will be impacted by the California disaster.

The saddest part is the death toll is up to 24 and more than 12,000 buildings have been lost and entire neighborhoods have burned down to the ground.

Unfortunately, the heavy winds are still a tremendous threat today and almost 90 thousand people are still under evacuation orders as of this writing.