Zurich-domiciled catastrophe insurance data provider, PERILS, has upped the industry loss in its second estimate for extratropical windstorm “Éowyn”, also known as “Gilles”, at €696 million from €619 million in March.
The loss estimate covers the property lines of business and is based on loss data collected from affected insurers.
The storm generated very strong winds affecting the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the Central Belt of Scotland, which occurred on January 24-25th, 2025.
Windstorm Éowyn was a very intense extratropical cyclone with very strong winds, with a record-breaking wind gust of 185 km/h measured at Mace Head in County Galway in Ireland, and 173 km/h was measured on the Cairnwell mountain in the Eastern Highlands of Scotland.
For the Republic of Ireland, Éowyn marks the biggest windstorm loss for at least 45 years, whereas for the UK it is the biggest since February 2022, reported PERILS.
Reports disclose that over 1.8 million households and businesses lost power, and transport came to a virtual standstill. The property losses were widespread and included non-structural damage to cladding and tiles, as well as structural damage to buildings and large-scale leisure facilities.
PERILS stated that the resulting loss to the insurance industry marks the biggest event loss of the 2024/25 European windstorm season.
The risk modeller will provide an updated estimate of the market loss for the catastrophe on July 25th, 2025, six months after the event end date.
Luzi Hitz, Product Manager at PERILS, commented, “The fact that at EUR 696 million Éowyn was the biggest event loss of the 2024/25 European windstorm season, would characterise it as a relatively benign one, similar to 2022/23.
“In comparison, the 2023/24 season saw Windstorm Ciaran generate EUR 2,067 million of industry losses, while the storm cluster of Dudley, Eunice and Franklin in 2021/22 generated EUR 3,851 million in losses.
“This degree of fluctuation shows that the industry must be prepared for major European windstorm events, which have the potential to cause losses in the range of tens of billions of Euros.”
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