Floods have become “one of the costliest perils across the globe”, according to Aon Benfield’s Global Catastrophe Recap for last month.

Asia recorded more than $US7.5 billion ($7.33 billion) of economic losses, much of it in China, where two floods hit several provinces.

The most costly flood occurred in six provinces over six days, with the country’s Ministry of Civil Affairs confirming economic losses of at least CNY31.1 billion ($4.8 billion).

In Pakistan, major flooding caused about 442 deaths and 2912 injuries. The country’s National Disaster Management Authority reported more than 407,138 damaged or destroyed homes and about 444,580 hectares of damaged crops. Agriculture and infrastructure damage alone was valued at PKR250 billion ($2.54 billion).

Monsoon floods hit India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. At least 56 people were killed in India when floods hit about 400,000 homes.

Steve Jakubowski, President of Aon Benfield subsidiary Impact Forecasting, says catastrophe models are increasingly addressing floods.

“Over the past few years and again in 2012 we have seen flooding emerge as one of the costliest perils across the globe from an economic perspective,” he said.

Mr Jakubowski says as insurance and reinsurance penetration grows in Asia, “we expect flood exposures will become a key challenge for the industry”.

Flooding also hit parts of Europe, where a slow-moving storm system brought torrential rain to northern Britain, killing three people and causing more than £50 million ($78.8 million) of damage in the northeast region.

In southern Spain at least 10 people were killed by flooding. The Insurance Compensation Commission reported 19,500 claims filed, with payouts of €120 million ($152 million).

Severe weather also affected central and eastern regions of the US, with two tornadoes recorded in the New York City metropolitan area.

Several South American countries were hit by a powerful storm system that killed at least nine people and injured more than 100.

Typhoon Sanba caused economic losses of ¥950 million ($11.8 million) in Japan and KRW389 billion ($341 million) in South Korea.

Two 5.6-magnitude earthquakes hit the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou, killing at least 81 people and affecting more than 452,000 homes. Economic losses were CNY7.31 billion ($1.13 billion).