Floods, rain, hail and wind were the major drivers of damage anddestruction in August 2013, says Aon's latest global catastropherecap report.

Severe weather in the Midwest and the Plains early in the monthincluded baseball-sized hail and winds of more than 80 mph,contributing to conditions that caused insured losses in excess of$625 million. The states of Minnesota and Wisconsin, whichexperienced an EF-2 tornado, were the hardest-hit.

“Once assessments are fully complete, it is expected thataggregate U.S. insured losses from severe weather events in themonth of August will reach $1 billion,” says Steven Bowen, seniorscientist and meteorologist at Aon Benfield.

Insured losses of more than $225 million were caused by earlyAugust storms and tornadoes in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Aonsays most damaged was from softball-sized hail and floods inColorado that affected homes, businesses, schools, vehicles andagriculture. Economic damages tallied more than $400 million.

The Rim Fire, the fourth-largest wildfire in California'shistory, destroyed 111 structures in Tuolomne County in late Augustand early September, and cost $72 million to bring undercontrol.

On the first of the month, powerful thunderstorms swept acrossthe Rockies and the Plains with gusts of up to 104 mph winds andgolf-ball sized hail. Property damage and crop losses are expectedto bring economic losses of more than $50 million.

Other notable catastrophe events in the U.S. in August includedrainfall in the Plains and Tennessee Valley that led to flashfloods and inundated basements to the tune of $25 million ineconomic losses.

Elsewhere, rainfall in China, especially in the country'snortheast region around the Heilongjiang River, which swelled torecord levels, damaged or destroyed 306,000 homes and killed 260people. Economic losses in the region reached at least $5.3billion.

“Last month's events were highlighted by flooding across Asia.From an insurance perspective, despite the $10 billion in economiclosses, only a fraction of these losses are covered by insurancegiven the low level of penetration in China, Philippines, Russiaand Pakistan,” says Bowen.

Torrential rains also inundated the Amur and Zeya rivers, whichaffect five regions, and led to the worst flooding in over acentury in Russia's Far East. No fatalities were reported, butnearly 7,000 homes, 220 roads and 62 bridges were damaged ordestroyed.

Super Typhoon Utor, which made separate landfalls in thePhilippines and China, damaged more than 21,000 homes onPhilippines Luzon Island, costing $33 million overall, beforemoving on to China, where it killed 70 people and caused $2.6billion in economic losses.

Australia experienced a strong tornado on August 3, which caused$9.1 million in economic losses, and a series of earthquakes in NewZealand left no fatalities, but around 3,000 claims for homestructural damage due to cracking and fallen indoor content.

The passage of Typhoon Trami in the Philippines put more than 60percent of urban Manila underwater. Officials estimated overalldamages at $2.2 billion.

Monsoons also ravaged areas of Pakistan, taking the lives of 208villagers and causing $1.9 billion in agricultural losses.