LA Wildfires Propel Insured Losses To The Highest Level Since 2011 Fukushima Meltdown — Report

The Los Angeles wildfires in January are poised to raise this year’s insurance losses well above the long-term average for the industry, a report by reinsurer Munich Re said.

Overall, global insurers lost approximately $80 billion in the first half of 2025, with about half of this amount attributed to the wildfires in California, the costliest in history, according to the report by the German firm.

Insured losses in the first half of 2025 were the second-highest in the first half of any year since the company began keeping records in 1980, surpassed only in 2011 when a severe earthquake and a destructive tsunami in Japan led to the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits about insurer Travelers was in the ‘bearish’ territory at the time of writing, while traders were ‘neutral’ about peers Chubb and Allstate.

Fanned by strong Santa Ana winds, two major fires claimed at least 30 lives and displaced thousands in the communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena in January.

Numerous studies have shown that catastrophic natural disasters are becoming more frequent due to the rise in global temperatures. After record temperatures in 2024, this year is again on course to rank among the warmest since the beginning of systematic record-keeping.

“Disasters like the one in Los Angeles have become more likely due to global warming, and they teach us a very important lesson: people, authorities, and companies must all adapt to new circumstances,” said board member Thomas Blunck.

The report also noted that losses from severe storms in the U.S., which caused heavy rainfall and tornado outbreaks, totaled $14.6 billion in overall insured losses.

The Munich Re analysis comes months after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it would stop monitoring the financial toll of the United States' most expensive extreme weather occurrences amid the Trump administration’s efforts to curb climate-related research funding.

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