Storms Ciara and Dennis buffet insurer Direct Line by £35m

Insurer Direct Line expects to fork out £35 million to meet claims from the damage inflicted by storms Dennis and Ciara, it revealed on Tuesday

The two storms ripped through the UK in January and February, flooding homes and damaging properties in Yorkshire, Wales and the Midlands.

Direct Line said there had been around 8700 customers claiming so far and most of the bill will be storm related, such as gusts of winds blowing off tiles and damaging roofs.

A small proportion of the claims, numbering the low hundreds, come from flood damage but they are more expensive to fix.

Chief executive Penny James said: “Storm claims tend to be easier and cheaper to fix than flood claims.”

Last week RSA said it had received thousands of claims while Hiscox yesterday said it had only 112 so far.

Direct Line is also hunting for a new chairman after Mike Biggs said he will stand down.