Damage clean-up bill could top over £300m, say insurers
HUNDREDS of thousands of homes are still without power due after Storm Eunice tore through the country, while insurers have indicated the clean-up could cost more than £300 million.
At least four people were killed in the UK and Ireland during one of the worst storms in decades, with a gust of 122mph provisionally recorded at the Needles on the Isle of Wight, which, if verified, would be the highest ever recorded in England.
Energy Networks Association (ENA) has said nearly 400,000 homes had no electricity on Friday night, with network providers recording 156,000 disrupted customers for UK Power Networks, 120,000 for Scottish & Southern, 112,000 for Western Power, 6,000 for Northern Power, and 260 for Electricity North West.
Footage shared online captured planes struggling to land in high winds, damage to the roof of the O2 arena in London, and the spire of St Thomas Church in Wells, Somerset, crashing to the ground.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) warned previous similar storms have cost around £360m in repairs. An ABI spokesperson said: “It is too early to estimate the likely insured cost of Storm Eunice, when insurers will be focusing on assessing damage, and helping their customers recover.
“No two storms are the same. The last significant storms to hit the UK – Ciara and Dennis – led to insurers paying out over £360m.”
Clean-up efforts could also be hindered by wet and windy weather moving in over the weekend, the Met Office has warned.
The national forecaster has issued a yellow warning for wind covering the entire south coast and south-west Wales until 6pm yesterday. Today, a yellow warning for wind is in place for most of Scotland.
Three people died in the UK and one in Ireland, and many more were injured. A woman in her 30s died after a tree fell on a car in Haringey, north London, on Friday afternoon, the Metropolitan Police said.
In Netherton, Merseyside, a man in his 50s died after debris struck the windscreen of a vehicle he was travelling in.
A man in his 20s was killed in Alton, Hampshire, after a pick-up collided with a tree.