Storm Arwen costs could top £250 million - PwC

Mohammad Khan, General Insurance Leader, at  PwC UK, said:

"Insurance companies have been fielding a high volume of calls over the weekend and today on Storm Arwen. Most of the calls have been in relation to home and car damage - predominantly home, however, as is usual with a major storm, the claims from businesses take longer to be reported and to assess. 

"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. 

"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. 

"The average insurance windstorm claim for a home is between £1,000 and £1,500 (although some claims can reach over £100,000 if there e.g. damage caused to a house by a fallen tree). 

"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."