Storms Eva – Frank UK flood insured losses £526m ($770m): PERILS

The insurance and perhaps reinsurance industry loss due to UK flood damage caused by storms Eva & Frank in December and other low pressure systems in January, is estimated to have cost the industry £526 million ($770m or €685m), according to PERILS AG.

The first estimate for the insured flooding losses related to storms Eva & Frank, as well as the ongoing UK flooding that stretched into January, has been released today by PERILS AG, Zurich based provider of industry-wide European catastrophe exposure, industry loss data and indices.

The initial estimate for insured property market losses caused by the flood damage experienced during the period from 25th December 2015 to 14th January 2016 is £526m, according to PERILS. Windstorm losses for the same period are estimated to be negligible, in the low double-digit millions, so are not included in PERILS’ flood loss estimate announced today.

This loss estimate is in addition to the one announced recently for storm Desmond, which PERILS said caused around $1 billion of insurance and reinsurance industry loss. So in total the market is now looking at an insured loss of around $1.8 billion or £1.243 billion from the winter flooding through December and January in the UK, according to PERILS collected data.

The UK flooding has resulted in some reserving by ILS funds and reinsurance companies as well, although at this time the majority of the losses are expected to remain with primary insurance companies.

Storm Eva was identified and named by the UK Met Office and Irish Met Éireann, and was also named Chuck by the Free University of Berlin and Staffan by the Swedish Meteorological Institute. Heavy rainfall following storm Eva affected the UK from 25th December onwards, exacerbating losses. A subsequent storm system was named Frank by the UK Met Office and Met Éireann and Eckard by the Free University of Berlin. Heavy rainfall and further flooding associated with storm Frank affected the UK from 29th December onwards.

The rainfall led to extensive surface water and river flooding from 25th December 2015 onwards, with the north and northwest of the UK and Scotland, with the worst affected counties Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire in the North of England, the councils of Ayrshire and Dumfries & Galloway in Southwest Scotland, and the councils of Aberdeenshire, Angus and Perth & Kinross in Northeast Scotland. Peaks flooding occurred during 26-27 December (the Boxing Day floods), 30-31 December, 4-5 January and 8-9 January.

PERILS will produce a second flood loss estimate for Eva-Frank on 25th March 2016 in line with its reporting schedule, and will be followed by a third loss report on 25th June 2016, which will break down the loss data by CRESTA zone and by the property sub-lines Residential and Commercial.