EuroTempest has issued a post event report on Storm Ciara (Sabine) including peak-gust footprints and Flood Forecast Maps.  The storm has caused widespread wind and flood damage across Europe.

Ciara Losses in the UK due to Windstorm Damage expected to hit £50m
Reported as the largest windstorm to hit the UK in the last 100 years, Ciara, also named as Sabine by the Free University of Berlin, was certainly large in extent.  Peak gust speeds in excess of 60 mph were experienced across most of the UK.  But in terms of extreme winds it was not so serious.  Relatively few areas saw peak gusts of 70 mph or more.   EuroTempest estimates that losses for UK household insurers due to windstorm damage will be around £50m.  The last event of this scale was Thomas (Doris) in February 2017, which in turn was the largest to hit the UK since Tini and Ulla in February 2014.  Insurance losses for these two events in 2014 were over £100m in the UK.

The picture across Europe for Ciara looks similar to UK, with a very large areas experiencing 60 mph winds.  It is likely that Ciara will be the first €1bn event since Friederike (David) in January 2018.

EuroTempest Accurately Forecasts Ciara Flood Claims
The UK has also seen some serious flooding particular across the Leeds to Liverpool axis.  EuroTempest issued its first flood alerts on Wednesday 5 Feb, 4 days before the Environment Agency released its first flood warnings.  Using its proprietary Flood Risk Forecast model, EuroTempest was able, on Thursday 6 Feb, to accurately identify areas at risk.  Our insurance subscribers were able to use this information to target their response efforts well in advance of what would usually have been possible.  From monitoring flood claims activity post-event, EuroTempest estimates that around 1,000 flood claims will be made to UK household insurers as a result of Ciara.

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