"Florida hasn't seen a hurricane comparable to Irma for 25 years," says Nottingham Trent University natural disaster expert Stephen Godby / David Goldman / AP

Thirteen issues of catastrophe bonds worth $1.4 billion could fall sharply in value as Hurricane Irma moves along the Caribbean islands toward Florida, S&P predicts.

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In the financial sector, reinsurance stocks and catastrophe bonds bore the brunt of the storm. Everest Re shares fell 6.79% on Thursday, while XL Re shares fell 5.12%. Heritage Insurance Holdings' $125 million catastrophe bonds Tuesday, the bonds were worth 50% of par value, the FT writes, while the $325 million issue placed by Everest Re was worth 94% of par value on Wednesday.

In the second quarter of 2017, a record $6 billion in catastrophe bonds were placed, the entire market is $26 billion. The issuers are insurance and reinsurance companies, the buyers are hedge funds, pension funds, etc. They lose money if the insurer suffers losses due to natural disasters. disasters.

The Stone Ridge Reinsurance Risk Premium Interval mutual fund ($4.5 billion under management, investors can withdraw money quarterly), which invests in catastrophe bonds, has lost 11% since the beginning of the week, Bloomberg writes. In 2016, it earned clients 6.4 % profit, in 2015 – 7.9%, in 2014 – 11%, and in 2017 – 7.9% loss.

Barclays estimates insured losses from Hurricane Irma at $50 billion, and in a worst-case scenario, up to $130 billion. Lloyd of London says losses are $131 billion, and some experts believe that Irma will cause more damage than Harvey, at $180 billion. billion

“Florida hasn’t seen a hurricane comparable to Irma for 25 years,” says Stephen Godby, an expert in natural disasters at Nottingham Trent University. “But since then, both the population and assets have increased significantly, meaning the damage could be greater.” "Irma makes Hugo and Marilyn look like short downpours," says photographer Steve Rockstein.

Irma could leave more than 3 million homes and businesses without power. Florida Power & Light Company will shut down two nuclear power plants in Florida, and farmers could lose $1.2 billion in crops – Florida grows tomatoes, oranges, beans, cucumbers, squash and sugar cane.-

$130 billion per hurricane