Insurance companies face mounting costs after yesterday’s adverse weather conditions wreaked havoc up and down the country.

The total bill for UK insurers is expected to total hundreds of millions of pounds, and will inevitably lead to increased insurance premiums for many going forward.

Insurers’ telephones have been ringing off the hook, as homeowners try to patch up their windows and roofs, and secure chimneys and fences affected by Thursday’s storms.

Insurance giant Norwich Union, responsible for covering 20% of the UK’s homes, claimed to have taken four times as many calls as usual.

The extent of the damage and the total cost of repair will be impossible to evaluate for a couple of weeks, as loss adjusters will have to visit areas up and down the country and look at thousands of big and small claims.

Commenting on the final bill, the Association of British Insurers said: “It is too early to tell exactly.”