Extreme weather events have been a feature of 2025, and the claims service provided by Ageas for Rias home insurance customers is focused on making the process as simple and stress-free as possible during an already challenging time.
Not long after Storm Floris hit, on 15 August 2025 Scotland experienced another storm.
With BBC Scotland News reporting Dundee’s Overgate Shopping Centre had been evacuated, Ann Duckett recalls her and her husband John standing in the living room watching water coursing down the road.
Ann said: “It was a really bad storm, we knew it was coming. We live in a terrace house on a sloping street, we felt safe.”
“We were watching the river now on the road, and then all of a sudden water began pouring through the ceiling in the bay window.”
“We ran upstairs to find it was pouring into the bedroom, and it was gushing through the wooden floorboards into the living room.”
Living in a three-storey house, instinctively the couple ran up the next flight of stairs to reach the top floor.
Ann continued: “The gutter was overwhelmed; the water was coming in through the wall and across the ceiling, not just the window. It looked like we had one of those wall water features!”
“We were running around like headless chickens to stop it, placing buckets and towels everywhere. We used at least 17 towels!”
The water damaged ceilings, walls and furniture in the bedroom, dressing room, and the living room.
She added: “As we were in the house at the time, we managed to reduce the impact. If we hadn’t been in, I dread to think, everything would have been ruined. We had a fear of things getting worse, but we were lucky in a way.”
After they had done all they could do to lessen the impact of the flooding, Ann called Ageas, her insurer.
Ann said: “It was quite funny as the person on the phone asked me if I thought the damage would exceed more than our £300 excess, I said sadly yes I think it does!”
The storm happened on a Friday, and by the beginning of the following week the assessor was at their property.
Ann added: “It was a quick process. Within two weeks of the incident we had the cash settlement which gave us the flexibility to choose a decorator we trusted and start repairs quickly.”
“In a very stressful situation, having that option and quick resolution was a huge relief. I am very relieved it all went so quickly and easily.”
“It has been a huge disruption to our lives, but it’s great our insurance covered it.”
“The relief was a combination of us doing our best to reduce the damage and our insurer being so understanding and paying out quickly.”
