PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organisation providing industry-wide catastrophe insurance data, has disclosed its initial loss estimate for the floods in the United Kingdom in February 2020.
The February 2020 Floods in the UK were the result of record-breaking rainfall on saturated grounds which led to extensive river flooding. Heavy rainfall was mainly associated with the three named storms of Ciara, Dennis and Jorge. River flooding affected the English regions of West Midlands, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber, as well as Wales and parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Based on claims data collected from affected insurance companies, PERILS’ initial estimate of the insured property market loss for the February 2020 UK Floods is GBP 297 million (US$367 million).
While an estimated 4,800 properties were damaged, many other locations were successfully protected by flood defences.
However, the resulting losses to the insurance industry were the largest for a flood event since the winter floods of December 2015 , which cost the industry GBP 1.1 billion (US$1.36 billion) at the time.
Combined with the flood losses in November 2019 and losses from the 2019/2020 windstorm season, PERILS estimates that the UK insurance industry suffered a total loss of approximately GBP 650 million (US$804 million) from flood- and wind- related events during the 2019/2020 winter period.
Source: PERILS
