Insurers to face $1 bln in claims from U.S. bad weather in Feb-report

LONDON, March 6 (Reuters) - Insurers are likely to face claims of at least $1 billion due to bad weather in the United States in February, according to a report from reinsurance broker Aon Benfield.

Five separate periods of heavy snow, freezing rain and ice hit different U.S. regions during the month, killing 72 people, Aon Benfield said in its monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report.

"Early estimates suggest aggregated economic losses from the events will be in the low-digit billions of dollars, with insured losses likely to exceed $1 billion," it said in a statement. (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Steve Slater)