Streets of Riga, Jurmala and Jelgava flooded by heavy rainfall led to residents incurring losses worth over half a million euro, estimated BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS (hereinafter – BTA). On Monday 150 insurance claims have already been made, however, we are already aware that the total compensation sum will increase significantly, when farmers will have estimated damage to crops.

Monday night came with the first claims on MyBTA portal and customer support service, since BTA is the only insurer in Latvia that provides for insurance specialists answering customer calls 24/7, on weekends as well. The number of claims made on Monday kept growing, most claims came from customers that had insured their property. Damage was caused by wind-fallen trees and their branches, which destroyed fences, auxiliary buildings or feel onto cars. Roofs were damaged, windows were shattered.

It is expected that the number of claims will increase in the upcoming days by several dozen, and the sum disbursed to clients might increase accordingly.

Storm caused significant damage to our southern neighbour as well. On Monday BTA in Lithuania received over 250 insurance claims and the total compensation sum exceeded 500 thousand euro.

“Unlike several other natural disasters that we’ve recently suffered, this one was forecasted in advance, and the authorities in charge warned residents timely about the imminent danger. We were well-prepared as well. Currently, insurance specialists are working under no timeline, assessing the amount of damage, calculating losses and organizing indemnity disbursements, so that the insured clients are able to avert the most significant damage as soon as possible, for instance, renovate their roofs, clean the courtyard entrances from wind-fallen trees or take damaged cars to a car repair shop,” BTA Insurance Claims Handling Department director Kārlis Liepiņš listed the tasks that are being currently completed by insurers.

About BTA

BTA Baltic Insurance Company is one of the leading insurance companies in the Baltics, offering the broadest range of non-life insurance services in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. BTA employs more than 1,000 employees in the Baltics. The sole shareholder of BTA is Vienna Insurance Group AG (VIG), the leading insurance group both in Austria and in the entire Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. Around 50 insurance companies in 30 countries form a Group with a long-standing tradition, strong brands and close customer relations. The more than 25,000 employees in the VIG take care of the day-to-day needs of more than 22 million customers. VIG shares have been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1994. The VIG Group has an A+ rating with stable outlook by the internationally recognised rating agency Standard & Poor's. VIG cooperates closely with the Erste Group, the largest retail bank in Central and Eastern Europe.