Storm Austen arrived on Thursday night, bringing gusts of up to 80mph to parts of Cornwall, Devon and Plymouth, with amber wind warnings in place from the Met Office and yellow warnings stretching across southern England and Wales. Met Office deputy chief forecaster Chris Bulmer said the storm was expected to bring "a spell of impactful weather" to parts of the UK, with damage to buildings, travel disruption and power cuts all possible” The Met Office has also warned that a further area of low pressure near Iceland is likely to bring strong winds to northern parts of the UK over the weekend, keeping conditions unsettled into next week.
The timing adds weight to new data from Aviva showing that one in five of all its home insurance claims relate to storm damage, and that 84% of those claims fall between October and March, precisely the window that has just opened. December, January and February are the peak months, with February alone accounting for 26% of annual storm claims, followed by January at 21%.
Laura Lazarus, director of home and lifestyle claims at Aviva, said the UK’s warmer-than-average temperatures earlier this year are no reason for complacency now that seasonal patterns have reasserted themselves. “Taking action when the weather is milder is the best way to ensure your home is ready for extreme weather,” she said. The most common causes of storm claims in Aviva’s data are broken or loose roof tiles, fallen trees and damaged windows, all of which can be made worse by deferred maintenance that policies are unlikely to cover.
Most standard home insurance policies cover sudden storm damage, but wear and tear, gradual deterioration and rot are routinely excluded. Fences, hedges and gates, which are frequently damaged in high winds, also fall outside the scope of many policies, a detail that tends to surface only at the point of claim. According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI) full-year 2025 claims data, storm damage to homes reached £244 million in 2025, up 32% on the year before, with the average storm payout rising to £2,450. A client who assumed their boundary structures were covered faces a gap that a pre-season conversation could have closed.
Surface water flooding adds another layer. Parts of England remain in officially declared drought following a dry summer, according to the Environment Agency, and Lazarus noted that hardened ground can slow drainage significantly, causing localised flooding even where flood risk maps show low exposure. Urban drains are particularly vulnerable. Clearing gutters, signing up to flood warnings and keeping an emergency kit ready are all sensible precautions, but surface water events can occur in postcodes that clients don’t consider at risk. Urban clients who saw dry summers followed by sudden heavy rainfall are worth a surface water flood cover check at the next renewal.
Brokers handling renewals in urban areas this autumn will find that homeowners who have previously flooded are already paying 121% more than the national average for cover, a reminder that claims history reshapes pricing in ways clients often don’t anticipate until the next renewal.
Storm Austen lands in a property insurance market under sustained pressure. Deloitte forecast in December 2025 that UK home insurers would swing to a loss in 2026, with the combined ratio reaching 102.1%, based on its analysis of ABI data.
Premiums have been falling at the same time, with the average combined buildings and contents policy at £375 in the first quarter of 2026, down 5% on the year before, according to the ABI’s Property Insurance Premium Tracker. The result is a market where underwriters are likely to look more carefully at claims, and where policy terms, exclusions and maintenance obligations become more consequential.
The timing sharpens a pressure that has been building in the market all year. With underwriters already paying out more than they are taking in premium, storm claims that hinge on maintenance disputes - whether a roof was in adequate repair before a tile lifted, or whether a fence was secured before it blew - are likely to receive closer scrutiny than they might have in a softer market. Clients who have deferred maintenance and assumed their cover remains intact are the ones most likely to find the gap between expectation and policy terms when a claim lands. That conversation, had before the season rather than after it, is where brokers can add the most practical value.
