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Good news for the households hit by last weekend's storm and floods, as an exstention has been granted for them to make their insurance claims.

According to The Connexion a  five-day limit normally applies to storm damage claims, this is extended to 10 days for flooding if the government decrees a state of "natural disaster", which it has now done for four departments in the west: the Vendée, Vienne, Deux-Sèvres and Charente-Maritime.  

But the French insurance body FFSA says all of its members have agreed to change the deadline to March 31, giving people just under a month to submit a claim.

People can claim by any method: letter , email or telephone. In this instance they do not need to provide an attestation de vitesse de vent - an official document confirming the strength of the wind. Insurers will obtain this information directly from Météo France.

In a crisis meeting yesterday insurance firms agreed the new deadline.  They have agreed to process and pay all claims up to €2,000 within 3 months.

The FFSA insurers are doing everything they can to get through the huge number of claims. Many policies will allow advanced payments, meaning basic repairs can be made until the claim is settled in full.

An early estimate by FFSA has put the cost of the storm damage at about  1billion€.

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