Floods damage insurance bill to hit £1.3bn, says ABI

The average expected pay out for each domestic flood claim is £50,000

A man looks out onto an alleyway filled with floating garbage bins after the adjacent River Ouse burst it's banks in York, northern England, (AFP/Getty)

The total bill for insurance claims from this winter’s storms are likely to reach £1.3 billon, Britain’s insurers say.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) found that the average expected pay-out for each domestic flood claim is £50,000, up from £31,000 following the winter storms of 2013-2014.

More than 3,000 families are now living in alternative accommodations while their homes are being repaired.

Emergency payments totalling £24 million have been made to both families and business, according to the trade body.

The final bill, which demonstrates the scale of the devastation, covers all the damages caused by storms Desmond, Eva and Frank over the festive season. The £1.3 billion expected total is a rise on last year £450 million but still well below the £3 billion total for the damage caused in 2007.

According to James Dalton, the Director of General Insurance Policy at the ABI, insurers have focused on urgent needs, proving families with an alternative home and helping with business with new trading premises.

Of the payments made so far, £9 million has been made to domestic customers and £15 million to businesses.

More than 8,300 initial visits have been made by loss adjusters, who handle the more severe claims.

"The impact of flooding will be felt for many months to come in affected areas. Cleaning, drying out and repairing flood damaged properties is a major undertaking. Insurers and their expert teams will be there for the long haul to help communities rebuild and repair," James Dalton said.

ABI director, Huw Evans told the BBC the £1,3 billion figure was "our estimate of the total cost, but clearly these numbers could change as future claims are made but this is broadly what we expect the cost to be for the damage caused by the storms of the last month".

The new figures are based on data from December 3 2015 until January 3 2016.

December was the wettest calendar month on record, the latest provisional statistics from the Met Office have revealed.

Thousands of homes across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland were left without power as Storm Frank caused widespread disruption during the holidays.

Accountancy firm KPMG has previously estimated that the cost to the UK’s insurance sector, businesses, individuals, communities and government will be between £5 to 5.8 billion in the long term with a fifth of the cost falling on those with insufficient insurance.