Catastrophe data aggregator PERILS has now raised its insurance industry loss estimate for the extratropical windstorm “Éowyn” that impacted the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Central Belt of Scotland during the period of January 24th – 25th 2025, increasing the total by 12.5% to EUR 696 million.
The storm also produced 173 km/h gusts on the Cairnwell mountain in the Eastern Highlands of Scotland.
“Over 1.8 million households and businesses lost power, and transport came to a virtual standstill. Losses to properties were widespread and included non-structural damage to cladding and tiles, as well as structural damage to buildings and large-scale leisure facilities,” PERILS explained.
Adding: “The resulting loss to the insurance industry marks the biggest event loss of the 2024/25 European windstorm season. For the Republic of Ireland, Éowyn was exceptional as it marked the biggest windstorm loss for at least 45 years.”
PERILS’ initial estimate for the event was EUR 619 million, reported in early March.
Now, the industry loss estimate has risen by just over 12% to EUR 696 million, PERILS reported today.
This estimate from PERILS covers the property line of business, in line with PERILS’ coverage definition for Europe.
In addition, PERILS has confirmed that an updated estimate of the market loss from Éowyn will be made available 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 characterize it as a relatively benign one, similar to 2022/23,” commented Luzi Hitz, Product Manager at PERILS.
“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,” Hitz concluded.
