PwC raises estimate on economic impact of UK floods

4th Jan 2016 12:55

(ShareCast News) - Consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on Monday raised its estimates on the cost of the damage from last month's UK floods for the third time in a week.PwC predicted the economic impact of storms Desmond, Eva and Frank that swept through Britain in December was between £2 to £2.8bn.Combined insured losses between £1bn to £1.4bn were also forecast.It compared to PwC's estimate last Wednesday for insured losses from storms Desmond and Eva of between £900m to £1.2bn pounds, up from an estimated range of £700m to £1bn.Monday's estimates, however, were the first to incorporate the impact of Storm Frank."December was an awful time for the UK. The three storms - Desmond, Eva and Frank - plus the additional rainfall that has fallen between and after each of the storms has resulted in the worst damage in the UK since the 2007 storms," Mohammad Khan, general insurance leader at PwC said."It may well be that as more rain falls we could even have more damage than the 2007 storms."Insurance companies RSA Insurance, Direct Line and Aviva were in the red on Monday as UBS estimated net losses of £150m to £308m from storms Desmond, Eva and Frank at, equivalent to 3%, 2% and 1% of market caps respectively.The bank noted that KPMG has put the economic cost at £5bn and insured losses at £1.5bn from the first two of the three December storms.