Storm Éowyn

Crawford is responding to claims and supporting affected people and communities in repair and recovery from this devastating storm. We also have experts assisting with business interruption claims.

Visit our services page to learn more about the support we can offer. See below for updates on Crawford's response to Storm Éowyn.

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Updates

Jan 31, 2025

Storm Éowyn, the fifth named storm of the season so far, was one of the strongest weather events to affect the UK and Ireland in the last 10 years and saw Crawford implement its major surge plans, mobilise its adjusting teams across all impacted regions, and bolster its core capabilities with additional surveying and engineering expertise.

Northern Ireland took the full force of Éowyn’s landfall, with windspeeds in excess of 110mph recorded. Initially, access to some areas was limited due to roads blocked by fallen trees and this was exacerbated by power outages. Some 25,000 properties in Northern Ireland are still without power.

It has now become clear that this is a significant, widespread event and particularly challenging for those in Northern Ireland, west and central Scotland and the north of England. Although we have detected a slight slowing in the volume of claims being reported, we have nonetheless seen the equivalent of several months’ worth of claims from Northern Ireland alone since Éowyn struck on Friday, 24 January.

We are seeing reports of damage to both domestic and agricultural properties, many of these in rural locations. Our field adjusters and surveyors started visits on Saturday, 25 January and our teams will be working this weekend to respond to the increased demand for our expertise. Many customers have expressed their appreciation for this speed of response and loss adjuster morale remains high thanks to receiving support from right across the business. Surveying teams have also been mobilised to work alongside our adjusters on larger losses.

We continue to engage with directly with our clients to mirror their own plans, and, having implemented our own surge plans across Crawford, we are currently holding regular surge management calls, assessing the expanding impact of the event, reviewing our capacity, and planning for the next stages of this severe weather event.

We have seen an outstanding effort, fully supported by the wider Crawford business, to help reach and assist those customers impacted by the event.

Even with these plans engaged we are aware that, given the still-developing scale of Storm Éowyn’s aftermath, we may yet see increased demand for assistance, but you can be sure that Crawford will remain committed to restoring lives, businesses and communities. We will provide more updates as they become available

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Jan 27, 2025

Following the widespread impact of Storm Éowyn, which has been described as one of the strongest weather events to affect the UK and Ireland in the last 10 years, Crawford has implemented its surge plans to ensure the effective handling of claims. It has mobilised its adjusting teams across the impacted regions, bolstering core capabilities with additional surveying and engineering expertise to address, with further teams on standby as more claim notifications are received. 

While some areas remain inaccessible due to fallen trees blocking road, adjusters have been able to access a large number of affected regions. Power outages, however, continue for tens of thousands of properties.

Cathy Scott, Head of Northern Ireland, advises “Within an hour of the gale force winds hitting Northern Ireland we started to receive notification of claims. By close of business on Friday, we had received an 800% increase in daily notifications. However, over the coming days we would expect the numbers of claims to grow significantly as the full scale of the impact becomes clear.”

“We are currently handling a wide spectrum of claims ranging from property damage through to business interruption claims, as well as supporting those policyholders who require temporary accommodation. “We also have teams across our UK operations mobilised to provide additional support to facilitate the speedy handling of claims and the commencement of restoration works.” 

Crawford has capitalised on its digital platforms to support rapid triage of claims received enabling teams to prioritise particular major losses and ensure that the right expertise is deployed based on the type of loss. The local teams also benefit from the global capabilities of Crawford with teams from across the UK ready to provide support as the number of claims received increases.

Despite the number of claims received to date, Crawford expects a significant increase in claims notifications today and in the coming days as power is returned and businesses reopen following Friday’s red warning across large parts of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The claims received to date span a range of standard wind-related claims as well as more complex commercial and business interruption losses. A large number of claims relate to damage including loss of roof tiles and slates, damage to guttering and chimneys, and dislodged bricks. In some extreme cases, large sections of roofs have been blown off. There has also been extensive damage caused by uprooted trees and branches falling on properties and vehicles.

In addition, claims are being received relating to denial of access to properties and businesses, as well as losses due to power outages. Crawford is also seeing a large volume of claims from the agricultural community which has seen damage caused to farm buildings. In some cases, damage is occurring to sites that are still under repair due to damage caused by Storm Darragh which affected large parts of the region in early December 2024.

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Jan 23, 2025

Beginning early Friday and continuing over the coming weekend, Storm Éowyn, the fifth named storm of the season so far, is approaching over the Atlantic. Initially, a rare Met Office red warning – indicating potential risk to life – was issued for Ireland as the first point of landfall. The storm is then expected to travel east to large parts of the UK mainland. 

Currently, the level of alert seems to be reducing slightly and there is some uncertainty as to the final strength of the storm. We are expecting claims due to flooding or coastal surge but, with gusts likely to exceed 90mph, the main hazard is expected to be wind damage. 

The impact of this storm is still set to be worse than late December’s Storm Darragh, meaning that Crawford is invoking the highest level of surge plans to include our breadth of resources across all parts of our UK operation, not just our property teams. 

This embraces enhanced preparation on surge strategy and guidelines and extending our digital technologies to help adjusters settle claims as quickly as possible, backed by our customer and client support teams who are at the ready to support adjusters in seamlessly handling increased claim volumes from Northern Ireland, Scotland and North of England – the areas likely to be worst hit. 

We’re also engaging directly with our clients so we can dovetail into their own surge plans, making sure we can provide the support they need, as well as keeping client communication channels open. 

With these plans already engaged in readiness for increased demand for assistance, you can be sure that Crawford will be there with the right team, the right technology, and the right processes to help restore lives, businesses and communities.