PERILS, the Zurich-based provider of catastrophe insurance data, has released its third industry loss estimate for Windstorm Éowyn, which affected parts of Ireland and the UK on January 24 and 25, 2025.
The latest figure puts the market-wide insurance property loss at €747 million. This follows previous estimates of €619 million and €696 million, published six weeks and three months after the event, respectively. The estimate is based on data submitted by insurers covering property lines of business.
PERILS’ third report includes a breakdown of losses by CRESTA zones, with 51% attributed to personal lines and 49% to commercial lines. When combined with the organisation’s exposure database, the data contributes to assessments of wind-related property risk in the UK and Ireland.
A fourth and final loss estimate is scheduled for release on January 25, 2026, marking one year since the event.
Windstorm Éowyn was an extratropical cyclone that moved across the Republic of Ireland and the UK. Weather services issued early warnings ahead of the storm, which is believed to have helped reduce the number of reported fatalities. Areas most affected included the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the Central Belt of Scotland. Around 1.8 million electricity customers experienced service disruptions.
While a loss of this size is in line with typical windstorm events in Europe, Éowyn represented the most significant wind-related insured loss in Ireland in over four decades. In the UK, it was the most substantial windstorm loss since February 2022.
According to Luzi Hitz (pictured above), product manager at PERILS, the storm followed a common development pattern for a European extratropical cyclone.
Hitz noted that the severity of the winds makes Éowyn a useful case for analysing property vulnerability at high gust speeds. The event offers an opportunity to calibrate catastrophe models against real-world conditions, with the aim of improving the accuracy of model outputs.
