When two devastating storms swept through central Latvia two weeks apart in July, insurance joint-stock company BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS (BTA) has already paid or is yet to pay almost 4 million euro in compensations to storm victims. Moreover, insurer is committed to also help those victims of the natural disaster that did not insure their property against the risk of rainfall before the 29^th of July.

As a result of both storms BTA received more than a thousand insurance claims from its clients, and upon careful consideration of the concluded insurance contract provisions BTA is currently disbursing compensations to the victims of the natural disaster. The volume of disbursed insurance indemnities has almost reached one million euro for the damage caused by the storm that swept across Bauska region in the second week of July. Farmers have received more than half of this sum for damaged crops.

Losses incurred by BTA clients that became victims of the cyclone “Kirsty” have almost reached three million euro. Compensations to be disbursed for the destroyed ploughland exceed 1.5 million euro and farmers are receiving the indemnity envisaged by the insurance contract from BTA, even notwithstanding the fact that the largest amount of the ploughland had already ripened for threshing. Most insurers do not disburse any compensations for crops, if prior to a storm it ripened for threshing. Over one million euro was allocated to avert the damage to real estate, and over 250 thousand euro – for repair of cars damaged by the natural disaster or replacement thereof with other vehicles.

Considering significant amounts of the destruction caused by the heavy rainfall BTA made a decision to offer further assistance to storm victims.

“In regard to unforeseen damage caused by the storm “Kirsty” on the 29^th of July and the large number of damaged properties, we have decided to provide support to those property insurance clients of BTA, who had not insured the rainfall risk. This being the case we will cover the losses, incurred by insured property owners in the flooded areas, as well as partially compensate losses, which occurred due to rainfall entering premises” – informed BTA Insurance Claims Department director Kārlis Liepiņš, and encouraged current and future clients to carefully consider the risks covered by the property insurance policy. Owing to the effects of climate changes over the past years storms and heavy rainfall caused some serious trouble to countless Latvian households, therefore, one must pay special attention to insurance against theses natural disasters.