Devastating storm results into BTA receiving insurance claims amounting to 1.2 million euros

This week on 07.08.2023, there was a violent storm, which caused extensive damage to residents of Latvia, and Lithuania. BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS (hereinafter – BTA) up to the morning on Tuesday has already received 216 insurance claims from customers in the Baltics, including 70 claims from residents of Latvia amounting to 1.2 million euros.

The largest number of claims in Latvia – 34 pertained to damage caused to real estate. There were buildings with their roofs ripped off or partially damaged, windows shattered, hail-damaged siding of external walls and other similarly serious damage. Already on Monday evening experts assigned by the insurer visited the most damaged objects to help in covering the roofs and windows with waterproof materials.

Moreover, customers have made 27 CASCO insurance claims for broken windshields and lights of their cars, dents caused by hail on the roofs and engine bonnets, as well as objects brought by storm and trees broken by the storm, which fell on customers’ vehicles.

In Zemgale, crops have suffered a great deal. During the day, BTA has already received 9 insurance claims, 7 of those were for fields of crops that were completely destroyed. Insurance experts are inspecting the damaged property, and in the course of upcoming days the amounts of compensations might increase. Moreover, the first applications were received for personal accidents. Two persons suffered from serious contusions, which led to severe bruising caused by hailstorm.

“There was a devastating storm on Monday, which once again reminded us that a man is powerless in front of natural disasters. We cannot stop a storm and protect our property to the full extent. However, we can reduce the damage caused to our households by insuring our property. Only those, who have insured their homes and cars, will be able to repair it by means of insurance indemnities. While those, who haven’t, will be forced to restore their property form personal funds and look forward to municipal assistance or volunteers’ help,” BTA Insurance Claims Handling Department director Kārlis Liepiņš encourages everyone to keep in mind the forecasts by climate change researchers, who claim, that in the future such kind of storms might occur more frequently in the territory of Latvia, and they might become stronger as well. Damage caused by storms are usually covered by BTA insurance and destructions caused thereby are compensated pursuant to the provisions of each individual insurance contract.

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.

Additional information:
Elīna Zvejniece
Marketing and Public Relations Department Director
BTA Baltic Insurance Company AAS
e-mail elina.zvejniece@bta.lv
mobile: +371 29374827