Midwest derecho pushes 2026 storm losses past $35 billion

The storms that crossed the Midwest from August 9 to 12 pushed 2026 US severe convective storm losses past $35 billion, Gallagher Re said. That total includes public and private insurance. Aon and Gallagher Re each estimate the outbreak left US and Canadian insurers with losses in the single-digit billions. It is at least the sixth billion-dollar severe storm event this year.

Gallagher Re has counted 11 billion-dollar severe storms in 2023. That total fell to seven in 2025, and this year has already reached six. The derecho itself ran from Iowa to Kentucky on August 11, with straight-line winds near 90 mph through Chicago's south suburbs. It also produced 11 tornadoes. Power outages across Illinois, Indiana and Ohio topped 1.1 million. Aon called the wind damage substantial, with torn-off roofs and submerged vehicles. Heavy rain and flooding in Indiana and Ohio prompted states of emergency; Ottawa weathered back-to-back storms on August 10 and 12, compounding the damage.

Guy Carpenter estimates the outbreak could rank among the ten costliest US severe convective storm events since 1995. The current tenth-place event is a 2014 central US hail and windstorm. It cost $5.1 billion. A loss in that range would erode aggregate reinsurance and bring cat bond triggers closer to the surface.

Illinois absorbed the worst of the damage, and its homeowners market runs through a short list of carriers. State Farm wrote 33.68% of the state's homeowners multiperil premium in 2025. Allstate wrote 14.27%, and Country Financial wrote 7.79%. Even combined, Allstate and Country Financial still trail State Farm. Nationally, State Farm's share of homeowners premium is 18.69%. Allstate's is 9.42%. Illinois has already recorded more than 200 confirmed tornadoes this year, a new state record, Gallagher Re says.

The concentration won't change the size of the loss, but it decides which insurers absorb it.