Loss and Loss Adjustment Expense Reserves

The following table presents the activity in loss and loss adjustment expense reserves:



	Six Months Ended June 30,
	2018			2017

	(Amounts in thousands)
Gross reserves at January 1	$	1,510,613		$	1,290,248
Less reinsurance recoverables on unpaid losses	(64,001		)	(13,161		)
Net reserves at January 1	1,446,612			1,277,087
Incurred losses and loss adjustment expenses related to:
Current year	1,173,862			1,181,108
Prior years	63,919			14,152
Total incurred losses and loss adjustment expenses	1,237,781			1,195,260
Loss and loss adjustment expense payments related to:
Current year	640,496			685,137
Prior years	540,803			471,973
Total payments	1,181,299			1,157,110
Net reserves at June 30	1,503,094			1,315,237
Reinsurance recoverables on unpaid losses	46,756			11,726
Gross reserves at June 30	$	1,549,850		$	1,326,963

The increase in the provision for insured events of prior years in 2018 of approximately $63.9 million was primarily attributable to higher than estimated California automobile losses resulting from severity in excess of expectations for bodily injury claims as well as higher than estimated defense and cost containment expenses in the California automobile line of insurance business.

The increase in the provision for insured events of prior years in 2017 of approximately $14.2 million primarily attributable to higher than estimated California property losses.

For the six months ended June 30, 2018 and 2017, the Company recorded catastrophe losses of approximately $11 million and $40 million, respectively. The 2018 catastrophe losses were primarily due to winter storms and mudslides in California, winter storms in the states along the Atlantic Seaboard, and storms in Texas. The 2017 catastrophe losses were primarily due to severe rainstorms in California, as well as storms and tornadoes in Oklahoma and Texas.