Rural insurance specialist NFU Mutual says total claim payout for damage from Storm Ciara could hit £20m.
The mutual, owned by its 90,000 members, said it has received more than 2,800 claims from the storm, which brought disruption to the UK on 9 Febuary.
Arouund 90% of the claims are on personal home insurance policies, for significant storm damage including fallen trees damaging property, damage to roofs and tiles, water ingress and chimneys being blown over.
There were 170 claims for vehicles and just over 150 claims for flood-related damage, says the mutual.
NFU Mutual is also preparing for payouts following Storm Dennis, which hit the country a week later, resulting in around 1,000 claims. Because this storm brought more localised rain, the insurer faces more home flooding claims, which tend to be more expensive.
Head of claims Paul Branch said: “Storm Ciara is one of the worst storms to hit the UK for several years and we’ll be paying out in the region of £20m to help our customers get back into their homes and businesses as quickly as possible.
“Suffering damage or being displaced from your home can be an extremely distressing time, so we move rapidly to help our communities, arranging alternative accommodation and making emergency payments.
“Even at this early stage we are also aware of more than 1,000 claims for Storm Dennis, and we expect the numbers to continue to increase as more customers submit their claims for damage.”
He added: “The clean-up operation is a nationwide team effort and our network of over 300 local offices continue to be out in force, helping customers in their communities to get claims underway, emergency accommodation arranged, damage quickly assessed and repairs and drying out started without delay.”
