PERILS, an independent organization based in Zurich that provides industry-wide catastrophe insurance data, has released the fourth and final industry loss estimate for Storm Eowen, which affected the British Isles on January 24-25, 2025. PERILS said the final estimate of insurance market losses was €765 million.
previous estimate Figures published by PERILS show a steady increase in insured losses, from €619 million six weeks after the incident to €696 million three months later and €747 million six months later, before reaching a final figure of €765 million. PERILS explains that this estimate relates to property operations and is based on loss information submitted by insurance companies affected by the storm.
In its final report, PERILS presents property damage data by country and CRESTA region, using area codes in the UK and county-level data in Ireland, with losses divided into personal line property and commercial line property.
The organization notes that when used with the PERILS Industry Risk Database and wind energy data at the same level of detail, the resulting industry loss footprint supports analysis of wind energy vulnerability for insured property risks in the UK and Ireland.
PERILS reported that Storm Eowyn brought extremely strong winds to the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and central Scotland, with gusts in Ireland reaching 185km/h, exceeding previous records.
The storm caused widespread damage, with about 1.8 million properties affected by power outages and more than 1.4 million people losing cellphone service, the organization said. PERILS further reported that storm-related incidents resulted in thousands of trees being uprooted, heavy vehicles overturned, roofs removed from buildings, and two deaths.
PERILS said insured losses in Ireland reached €316 million, making Éowyn the worst storm loss in the Irish insurance market in at least 45 years. In the UK, PERILS estimates losses in the industry at £378m, a level PERILS says is in line with losses recorded or exceeded twice in the past 20 years.
Commenting on the results, Luzi Hitz, Product Manager at PERILS, added: “Given the rare intensity of Éowyn, the robustness of the loss estimates over the past 12 months is remarkable. Insurers’ early coverage loss estimates are often based on insights from similar events in the past, and without precedent, forecasting can be more challenging.
“The 24% increase from €619 million six weeks after the event to €765 million one year after the event, and in particular the 10% increase from €696 million three months after the event to the figure 12 months after the event, therefore represents a relatively modest loss development. This stability underlines the robustness of Cat’s loss estimation practices in the UK and Ireland insurance market.”
He continued: “Although it did not dominate the headlines for long, Storm Éowyn was a valuable event from a data perspective. It provided a rare data point for unusually high wind speeds. Furthermore, it was primarily a dry event with little water-induced damage. Therefore, Éowyn is an ideal data source for calibrating vulnerability functions at extreme gust speeds, for which data are often limited.”
