Floods bill following storms to hit £363m
INSURANCE: The clean-up bill following storms Dennis and Ciara which hit parts of the country including Yorkshire is set to top £363m, according to insurers.
Experts say they are “working around the clock” to allow work to start as soon as possible repairing homes and businesses.
THE CLEAN-UP bill following storms Dennis and Ciara which hit parts of the country including Yorkshire is set to top £363m, according to insurers.
Experts say they are “working around the clock” to allow work to start as soon as possible repairing homes and businesses.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said that initial estimates show some £214m will be paid out on flood claims and £149m is being used to fix windstorm damage.
The average household flood claim has been estimated at £32,000. More than £7.7m in total was spent on emergency payments to get home owners and businesses back on track in the immediate aftermath of the flooding and wind damage, including paying for temporary accommodation when homes were uninhabitable.
The last time several storms of significance struck in quick succession was in December 2015, when storms Eva, Frank and Desmond caused insured damage valued at £1.3bn, the ABI said.
It also put the cost of flooding in parts of South Yorkshire and the Midlands in November last year at over £110m.
Mark Shepherd, the ABI’s assistant director, head of general insurance policy, said: “Insurers’ first
priority when bad weather strikes is always to help customers recover from the traumatic experience as quickly as possible.
“With some properties still under water, making emergency payments and arranging emergency alternative temporary accommodation or trading premises is very much a live issue.
“When the flood waters recede, the hard work begins. Insurers and loss adjusters will continue working around the clock to ensure homes and businesses are fully dried out, so that repairs can start as soon as possible, and people can get their lives back together.”
Several insurers have recently outlined how winter flood claims have affected their firms. Earlier this week, insurance giant Aviva has said it faces a £70m bill so far from the recent UK storms.
The group received weatherrelated calls from 13,000 customers but stressed it is “responding quickly by helping fix damaged properties and using the latest technology to settle claims”.
Direct Line Group has also recently said the UK’s winter storms are set to cost it at least £35m.
Admiral has also previously said it has been hit by £14m in flood claims since the year end, with some of its own staff suffering flood damage, given the impact of recent storms in Wales.
But it said after help from the Government’s Flood:Re fund, the claims hit was likely to be around £4m to £5m.
Across December, January and February, the country was deluged with an average total of 18.4in (469.7mm) of rain, according to the Met Office. Last month has already been confirmed as the wettest February on record, with an average of 8.2in (209.1mm) measured across the UK.