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Donegal's €8.7m big freeze bill
13.04.11
A WHOPPING €8.7m in
insurance claims has been paid out to Donegal homes
and businesses following last winter's big freeze.
The Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) said the
pay-outs followed the third case of severe weather
to hit the country in a 14-month period. A total of
€224m was paid out nationwide by insurers.
Donegal ranked 16th in terms of cost of claims per
head of population. The total €8.7m bill equated to
€59,505 per person out of a total population of
147,264.
Insurers dealt with almost 30,000 claims nationally
relating to damage to homes and businesses caused by
burst pipes. Household claims cost €173.1m, while
commercial claims amounted to €50.6m. The worst
affected counties were Cork (€32.4m), Galway
(€24.7m) and Dublin (€20.2m).
"The scale of damage caused by the December freeze
should not be underestimated and the subsequent
quick response from insurers assisted many
homeowners and businesses in getting back on their
feet as fast as possible," said IIF chief executive
Mike Kemp. |
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"Severe weather events
such as these have been very rare events in the past
in Ireland. To have had the three largest
weather-related losses in our history in such close
succession has put pressure on the market, but
insurers have repeatedly displayed their resilience
and as a result have injected three-quarters of a
billion euro back into the Irish economy in a
14-month period."
To put the extent of this year's payout in context,
the cost for severe weather events for the past ten
years before the November 2009 floods amounted to
€358m, or less than half the cost of the three most
recent events.
While the freezing weather might seems like a
distant memory, the IIF is urging people to take
precautions ahead of next winter.
Here is their advice:
- In the event of a pipe bursting, turn off the
mains water supply. Make sure you know where the
water mains supply valve is located.
- Make sure that all overflow pipes, on water
cisterns for instance, are adequate and can
discharge freely to the drain system.
- Keep your home well heated to avoid burst pipes.
If you are away, leave the heating on low and open
the attic door to let heat circulate if you are away
from home. |
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