UAE insurance claims and the April 2024 storm
Fire incurred claims reached AED 11.1 billion in 2024, the year of the 16 April storm, and AED 1.6 billion in 2025. Paid fire claims rose from AED 1.4 billion in 2023 to AED 5.3 billion in 2025. The Central Bank report links the rise in paid fire and motor claims to weather in words and gives no amount.
What happened on 16 April 2024?
It was the heaviest rainfall in at least 75 years, according to the National Center of Meteorology as reported in a paper in Scientific Reports.1 The highest 24-hour total was 254.8 mm at Khatm al-Shakla in Al Ain. Dubai International Airport received about 144 mm, which the paper says appears to be the second-highest total on record there, after a 1988 event. The national mean annual rainfall is about 100 mm. The paper reports widespread flooding, particularly in Dubai.
Fig. 3.Khatm al-Shakla recorded 254.8 mm in 24 hours on 16 April 2024
24-hour rainfall at the stations named in the paper, 16 April 2024, mm.
4 categories. Highest: Khatm al-Shakla, Al Ain, 254.8 mm. Lowest: Dubai International Airport, 144 mm.
Source
Source: Scientific Reports, An extreme rainfall event over the United Arab Emirates in April 2024: Role of dynamic and thermodynamic drivers. Accessed 4 Nov 2026. Lead authors are affiliated with the National Center of Meteorology.
Did claims peak in 2024?
Incurred claims in fire, engineering and motor peaked in 2024 and fell in 2025. Report section 3.9 states falls of 85.4% for fire and 82.3% for engineering.2 Marine and aviation peaked in 2023, and Other rose again in 2025.
| Class | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire | 1,315.7 | 2,244.2 | 11,095.9 | 1,620.1 |
| Engineering, construction and energy | 1,290.8 | 1,022.7 | 2,633.5 | 466.2 |
| Motor and transportation | 3,697.2 | 4,371.1 | 7,250.5 | 6,596.3 |
| Marine and aviation | 735.8 | 1,203.4 | 942.3 | 1,053.7 |
| Other | 292.1 | 597.3 | 922.7 | 1,105.3 |
Fig. 1.Fire incurred claims peaked at AED 11,095.9 million in 2024
Gross incurred claims by class, AED million. 2022 to 2024 from FCSC, 2025 from CBUAE. The chart shows the same years, not a cause.
- Fire
- Motor and transportation
- Engineering, construction and energy
- Marine and aviation
Fire: 2022, 1,315.7 AED million to 2025, 1,620.1 AED million. Highest 2024, 11,095.9 AED million. Motor and transportation: 2022, 3,697.2 AED million to 2025, 6,596.3 AED million. Highest 2024, 7,250.5 AED million. Engineering, construction and energy: 2022, 1,290.8 AED million to 2025, 466.2 AED million. Highest 2024, 2,633.5 AED million. Marine and aviation: 2022, 735.8 AED million to 2025, 1,053.7 AED million. Highest 2023, 1,203.4 AED million.
Source
Source: Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre, Insurance Indicators, 2021-2024. Accessed 4 Nov 2026. The file names the Central Bank of the UAE as its source.
Fire incurred claims were 199.3% of gross earned premium in 2024, against 24.4% in 2025. Engineering was 75.0% against 11.7%, and motor 105.9% against 72.1%. Motor premium also grew in these years, so motor claims cannot be read against the storm alone. Gross earned premium for motor was AED 6,849.7 million in 2024 and AED 9,155.0 million in 2025.
Why did paid fire claims keep rising after incurred claims fell?
The report defines incurred claims as paid claims plus the change in claims provisions.2 By that definition, fire incurred claims exceeded paid claims by AED 6,924.5 million in 2024, and paid claims exceeded incurred by AED 3,695.2 million in 2025. For engineering the figures are AED 1,200.5 million and AED 1,124.5 million. Gross technical provisions for fire fell from AED 14,012.9 million at the end of 2024 to AED 10,524.4 million at the end of 2025. The tables do not say which events those provisions relate to.
Fig. 2.Paid fire claims rose from AED 1,413.4 million in 2023 to AED 5,315.4 million in 2025
Gross paid claims by class, AED million. 2022 to 2024 from FCSC, 2025 from CBUAE. The chart shows the same years, not a cause.
- Fire
- Motor and transportation
- Engineering, construction and energy
- Marine and aviation
Fire: 2022, 1,365.2 AED million to 2025, 5,315.4 AED million. Highest 2025, 5,315.4 AED million. Motor and transportation: 2022, 3,709.9 AED million to 2025, 6,379.5 AED million. Highest 2024, 6,490.6 AED million. Engineering, construction and energy: 2022, 995.1 AED million to 2025, 1,590.7 AED million. Highest 2025, 1,590.7 AED million. Marine and aviation: 2022, 493.2 AED million to 2025, 1,221 AED million. Highest 2025, 1,221 AED million.
Source
Source: Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre, Insurance Indicators, 2021-2024. Accessed 4 Nov 2026. The file names the Central Bank of the UAE as its source.
Paid fire claims were AED 1,413.4 million in 2023, AED 4,171.3 million in 2024 and AED 5,315.4 million in 2025, a rise of 27.4% in the last year. Paid engineering claims went from AED 1,029.6 million to AED 1,433.0 million to AED 1,590.7 million. The gap between paid and incurred claims is behind the 2025 fire loss ratios of 79.9% on paid claims and 24.4% on incurred claims.
Does the Central Bank link claims to the weather?
In words, for paid claims, with no amount. The 2024 report says fire paid claims rose 195.1% “due to unprecedented weather conditions in the UAE during the year 2024”, and motor paid claims rose 62.2% “due to weather-related extreme events during the year 2024”.3 Its introduction says growth in paid claims aligns with insurance penetration, the number of policyholders and weather-related events. A climate section refers separately to “the climate related events on April 2024 in the UAE”. None of these passages gives an amount or names 16 April. Its section on incurred claims gives the rises, including 394.4% for fire, and no reason.
The 2025 report’s sections on paid and incurred claims give the movements and no reason. Its introduction says the 2025 growth in paid claims aligns with insurance penetration and the number of policyholders. It has one general reference to natural catastrophes, in a climate section, and nothing on April 2024.
Is there an estimate of the insured loss?
A Guy Carpenter briefing of May 2025 puts insured losses at around USD 3 billion in its summary and USD 2.9 billion to USD 3.4 billion in its text.4 That is an estimate by a reinsurance broker for the Gulf, not the UAE alone. It is not split by class.
Ask your insurer whether your property policy covers flood damage. The property page and business interruption page cover those classes.
The small print
- Claims figures are gross of reinsurance and cover the whole of each class. 2022 to 2024 figures come from FCSC Table 1.03.04 and 2025 figures from CBUAE Table 12A. The FCSC table has no line for the small reinsurance row in Table 12A.5
- The year is the only numerical join between the storm and the claims. Claims in a year may relate to events other than the storm.
- Claims by peril are not published, and the tables have no flood line.2
- FCSC describes the Fire class as including fire and allied perils, robbery and theft, and glass. It does not list the allied perils, so it does not show whether flood damage sits in that class.5
- The 2024 incurred ratios are derived from FCSC incurred claims over CBUAE Table 5A earned premium. The 2025 ratios are from Table 14A.
- Fire retention was 15.2% in 2024. Gross figures do not show what insurers bore net of reinsurance.2
Data and sources
| Year | Fire (AED million) | Motor and transportation (AED million) | Engineering, construction and energy (AED million) | Marine and aviation (AED million) | Other (AED million) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1,315.7 | 3,697.2 | 1,290.8 | 735.8 | 292.1 |
| 2023 | 2,244.2 | 4,371.1 | 1,022.7 | 1,203.4 | 597.3 |
| 2024 | 11,095.9 | 7,250.5 | 2,633.5 | 942.3 | 922.7 |
| 2025 | 1,620.1 | 6,596.3 | 466.2 | 1,053.7 | 1,105.3 |
| Year | Fire (AED million) | Motor and transportation (AED million) | Engineering, construction and energy (AED million) | Marine and aviation (AED million) | Other (AED million) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1,365.2 | 3,709.9 | 995.1 | 493.2 | 429.2 |
| 2023 | 1,413.4 | 4,002.1 | 1,029.6 | 488.4 | 583.5 |
| 2024 | 4,171.3 | 6,490.6 | 1,433 | 906.8 | 713.3 |
| 2025 | 5,315.4 | 6,379.5 | 1,590.7 | 1,221 | 1,096.6 |
| Class | Incurred less paid 2024 (AED million) | Incurred less paid 2025 (AED million) | Incurred ratio 2024, derived (%) | Incurred ratio 2025 (%) | Technical provisions end 2024 (AED million) | Technical provisions end 2025 (AED million) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire | 6,924.5 | -3,695.2 | 199.3 | 24.4 | 14,012.9 | 10,524.4 |
| Motor and transportation | 759.9 | 216.8 | 105.9 | 72.1 | 7,243.4 | 8,541.4 |
| Engineering, construction and energy | 1,200.5 | -1,124.5 | 75 | 11.7 | 7,869.6 | 7,025.8 |
| Marine and aviation | 35.5 | -167.4 | 41.6 | 44.7 | 3,144.3 | 2,873 |
| Other | 209.3 | 8.7 | 17.7 | 19.6 | 5,277.4 | 6,130.1 |
Sources
1Scientific Reports, An extreme rainfall event over the United Arab Emirates in April 2024: Role of dynamic and thermodynamic drivers, 16:21837, 2 June 2026. Last checked 4 Nov 2026. Source document: An extreme rainfall event over the United Arab Emirates in April 2024: Role of dynamic and thermodynamic drivers
2Central Bank of the UAE, Annual Statistical Report for the Insurance Sector of the U.A.E. 2025, Data year 2025, PDF created August 2026. Sections 3.3, 3.9, 3.10; notes 11 and 12; Tables 4A, 5A, 9A, 12A, 14A. Last checked 4 Nov 2026. Source document: Annual Statistical Report for the Insurance Sector of the U.A.E. 2025
3Central Bank of the UAE, Annual Statistical Report for the Insurance Sector of the UAE 2024, Data year 2024. Introduction; sections 3.3, 3.3.1, 3.8 and 5. Last checked 4 Nov 2026. Source document: Annual Statistical Report for the Insurance Sector of the UAE 2024
4Guy Carpenter, One Year On: Reflections on the Gulf Floods of April 2024, Briefing dated May 2025. Last checked 4 Nov 2026. Source document: One Year On: Reflections on the Gulf Floods of April 2024
5Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre, Insurance Indicators, 2021-2024, Metadata dated 19 August 2025, reference period 2024. Table 1.03.04 and metadata. Last checked 4 Nov 2026. Source document: Insurance Indicators, 2021-2024
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