The winds that swept across Lithuania over the long All Souls' Day weekend caused considerable damage to people's property. The company's experts estimate that by midday on Monday (4 November), almost 300 claims had been received for damage caused by the storm, and the amount of money allocated to compensate for its effects had already exceeded €200,000.

As Mantas Norkus, Head of the Customer Service Centre at „Lietuvos draudimo“, notes, when looking at the nature of the registered claims, it is clear that the dominant damage caused by strong winds is to the property of residents.

„This includes various damages to roof structures, ridges, cladding of buildings, small properties, greenhouses, fences. Heavy gusts of wind caused lifting from the ground and destruction of outdoor furniture and trampolines. In addition, broken trees and their branches fell on buildings and often cars. The biggest damage recorded so far was the roof of an outbuilding, which was torn off," says Norkus.

As the insurance expert notes, this time there was no heavy rainfall, which caused considerable damage due to water leaking through leaky building structures and cracks in roofs. Extended periods of heavy rain also caused water damage to basements and lower floors.

„Looking at the geographical distribution of the damage, the focus of this storm was not concentrated in any one region of Lithuania. Although, as usual, strong winds were raging in the coastal region, the damage was spread quite evenly across the various regions," commented Norkus.

According to data from „Lietuvos apdrošināšanas“, the frequency of damage to people's property caused by natural forces and the total amount of claims are increasing every year. In the last three years, the number of claims caused by natural disasters has risen by 75% to more than 12,000 cases per year in 2023.

The total amount of claims paid out in the same three-year period has increased by almost 140% and the amount paid out to cover losses will reach almost €10 million in 2023.