Protests over George Floyd’s death were particularly destructive to property in his home state.
The looting damage and property destruction that occurred in some of the Minnesota protests over the death of George Floyd on May 25 while in police custody will bring insurance companies an estimated bill of about $25 million.
This doesn’t take into consideration the destruction that happened in other places across the country.
The $25 million estimate was calculated by Property Claim Services, an insurance industry company that tracks catastrophes. The firm labeled the protests as a “riot and civil disorder event” within the area in and around Minneapolis. It then updated the announcement to include a number of other states as protests expanded and new looting damage and destruction numbers arrived. It labels events as catastrophes when the predicted insured losses reach at least $25 million.
This represents the first time that a “riot and civil disorder event” from multiple states has received this label, said Tom Johansmeyer, head of the company. The Verisk Analytics Property Claims Services division has been collecting catastrophe data back to 1950.
The majority of the demonstrations across the United States – and those that have spread into other parts of the world – have been primarily peaceful. This was particularly true of those occurring after last Monday. Those that took place last Tuesday were the calmest and most peaceful demonstrations that had taken place since George Floyd’s death. Still, the initial wave was highly destructive in certain specific locations, particularly in Minneapolis as well as in big cities such as Los Angeles, New York City and Philadelphia. An estimated 9,000 people were arrested across the country in the protests.
The $25 million insured looting damage estimate will more than likely change quite a bit.
Johansmeyer underscored that the $25 million projection is not a final estimate of what actual costs will be for business, homeowners and auto insurance companies. Instead, the Property Claims Services figure is issued to caution insurers so that they will prepare for a sudden wave of claims and payouts because an event’s total expected cost has risen to the point that it can be deemed a catastrophe.
The looting damage and destruction projections are made by working with the insurance industry and then presenting figures back to likely affected insurers.
