December flood losses now over £1b

Combined flood losses from storms Desmond, Eva and Frank breach the billion mark half a year after the disasters hit the UK

Insurance News

By Louie Bacani

The UK floods spawned by three storms in December have incurred insured losses of over £1 billion, according to the latest estimate of catastrophe insurance data provider Perils.
 
The firm said the insured property market loss for the flood damage caused by storms Eva and Frank from December 25 to January 14 is £538m, down from an earlier estimate of £578m.
 
The new figure excludes windstorm losses, which are pegged to be in the low double-digit millions.
 
Earlier this month, Perils announced that the floods generated by storm Desmond from December to 24 caused market losses of £597m, also lower than the earlier estimate of £662m.
 
Combining the latest estimates for the three storms results, Perils reported a total insured flood loss of £1.13m. The firm said 62% of the losses were from commercial properties while 38% were from residential properties.
 
"With the third loss reports for the floods ‘Desmond’ and ‘Eva-Frank’, we are able to provide for the first time industry loss data for UK flood events at a CRESTA and line of business level of granularity,” said Perils CEO Luzi Hitz.
 
Perils noted that storm Desmond was the most prominent of a series of depression systems which affected the UK in November and the first half of December 2015.
 
Desmond brought record-breaking rainfall mainly to the Northwest of England with the floods peaking on December 5 and 6, the firm said. 
 
 
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