According to data of BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS (BTA), today, on the 18^th September, early in the morning as much as 30 insurance claims have been made, the total amount of which is known already now to exceed EUR 100,000. The strong wind has made cars and real estate suffer most.

BTA customers this morning are active in making claims for losses from the damages incurred by the yesterday’s strong wind to their cars and real estate. A couple of dozen vehicles have been damaged, mainly by wind-broken trees and branches. Although, there has been a case reported, where a car has been damaged while parked at a supermarket parking lot, a large chunk of plastic has been torn off by the wind from the shop cart stand, lifted into the air and thrown on the car. In another case, a car has taken damage from a fallen tree, the trunk of which was 60 cm diameter, destroying a large part of the vehicle. Yet in another case, a car, while driving, got hit by a falling tree, damaging its front part. Luckily, no one was harmed, just hardware damages.

“We always keep reminding our customers remain critical in selecting car parking spaces, when the weather forecasters have issued strong wind warning. Especially it applies to this time of the year, when the first storms are coming. And, although usually such storms less frequently cause considerable damage in Riga, but this was a case of exception due to the wind direction. We believe these to be just the first cases reported, and expect yet more claims pouring in throughout the day,” comments Kārlis Liepiņš, BTA Insurance Claims Handling Department Director.

Also, a number of claims have been made regarding damages to real estate by the strong wind, for the major part – damaged fences and roofs by falling trees, although there is also a claim for decorative house boarding being damaged by a wind-blown table.

The concentration of incidents has been primarily in Riga and its metropolitan area, although there have been some cases in Jelgava, Salacgrīva and Ogre as well.

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 largest shareholder of BTA is Vienna Insurance Group AG with close to 200 years of experience in the insurance business. With about 50 companies in 30 countries and more than 25,000 employees, Vienna Insurance Group is a clear market leader in its Central and Eastern European markets, and takes care of more than 22 million customers. Vienna Insurance Group is the best-rated company of ATX, the leading index of Vienna Stock Exchange (since 1994) with a rating of A+ with stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s; its share is also listed on the Prague Stock Exchange. Vienna Insurance Group works in close partnership with Erste Group – the largest retail bank in CEE.

Additional information:

Elīna Rasmane

Marketing and Public Relations Department Director

BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS

e-mail elina.rasmane@bta.lv