Storm Arwen, which brought wind gusts of nearly 100mph to parts of the UK late on Friday, could result in insurance industry losses of between £250 million and £300 million, according to Mohammad Khan, General Insurance Leader at PwC UK.
Across the country, heavy snow and severe winds caused widespread disruption to roads and rail transport, as storm Arwen battered parts of the UK before weakening as it tracked towards continental Europe.
According to Khan, insurers have received a lot of calls over the weekend and into this week, most of which have been related to damages to homes and cars. While Khan warned that claims from businesses take longer to be reported and assessed.
“Based on the breadth of Storm Arwen and the damage seen so far, we estimate the insurance losses could be between £250m to £300m. Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis last year both had high wind speed but also featured significant flood losses as well,” said Khan.
“The majority of claims from storms like Arwen are damaged roofs, outbuildings and damage caused by fallen trees and fences as well as business losses due to loss of power so we tend to see a lot of claims but not very many high value claims,” he continued.
Khan explained that the average insurance windstorm claim for a home is between £1,000 and £1,500, although some claims can exceed £100,000.
“When you have a combination of high wind and rain, the claims tend to be of a much larger size e.g. on average between £25,000 and £35,000 for a flood claim for a typical home,” said Khan.
Reports suggest that the north-east of Scotland remains the worst hit area, with thousands of people having now spent four nights without power.
