Almost 5,000 reports of severe weather in the US, including tornadoes, hail and damaging winds, caused insured losses of $3 billion last month.

With damaging severe weather also hitting western and central Europe, Brazil, Indisa, China and Canada, and an earthquake in Japan, last month was the most active in terms of catastrophic events this year, according to an analyst at Aon.

The 5,000 combined reports of damaging weather conditions in the US, as recorded in data from NOAA’s Storm Prediction Centre, accounts for 45 per cent of storm reports during the first half of the year.

Some of the worst of the hailstorms hit metro areas in Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs. In total, it is estimated that economic losses from the US storms will approach $4 billion.

Elsewhere, there was a deadly magnitude 5.5 earthquake in Japan’s Osaka Prefecture, seasonal floods in Asia, and a tropical storm in China’s Guangdong Province.

Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development team of Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions business, has included details of June’s events in the latest edition of its Global Catastrophe Recap report, which evaluates the impact of the natural disaster events that occurred worldwide.

Michal Lorinc, an analyst within Impact Forecasting’s Catastrophe Insight team, said: “June was one of the most active months thus far in 2018 for natural disasters. A plethora of major events occurred in many regions around the world during the month — notably in the United States, Japan, China, and Europe — which has led to a multibillion-dollar economic toll.

“The natural peril risks across these regions are well understood, and Impact Forecasting has many catastrophe models in place to help clients better understand the hazards associated with their portfolio exposures.”

• The full Impact Forecasting June 2018 Global Catastrophe Recap report can be found at: http://bit.ly/if-recap-june-2018