As the insurance industry continues to assess the impact of one of the worst storms to hit the country in a generation, financial services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) estimates the damage to be between £200 million and £350 million.
Storm Eunice, which made landfall last Friday, brought record-breaking winds of up to 122mph, causing widespread devastation and claiming at least three lives.
PwC attributed the insurance losses to residential and commercial property damage, and business and travel disruption as the fierce Atlantic storm knocked down powerlines, forced flight cancellations, and destroyed buildings.
“It was expected that Storm Eunice would be severe, and we’ve seen the strongest gusts impacting coastal areas as well as travel disruption with airlines and train operators cancelling flights and entire rail lines impacting travel across the country,” said Mohammad Khan, general insurance leader at PwC UK.
“As with Storm Dudley, insurance losses will mainly be in respect of damage to homes, commercial properties and vehicles from falling trees and flying debris,” he added.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI), meanwhile, said while it was too early to provide an estimate as insurers would be focusing on assessing damage and helping their customers, previous similar storms had caused in the industry about £360 million in losses.
“No two storms are the same,” an ABI spokesperson told Bloomberg. “The last significant storms to hit the UK - Ciara and Dennis - led to insurers paying out over £360 million.”
