The total economic damages for England from the winter 2015 to 2016 floods were estimated to be between £1.3 billion and £1.9 billion, with a best estimate of £1.6 billion, according to a new report from the Environment Agency.

The report of the high level economic damages says that business (non-residential) properties suffered the greatest proportion of flood damages, with 32% of total damages occurring to this sector (best estimate of £513 million incurred by 4,944 properties).

At a national scale, the winter floods of 2015 to 2016 were the most extreme on record according to the intensity of the rainfall, resulting in widespread flooding during December 2015 and January 2016 – primarily in the north of England.

 The events resulted in flooding of many properties, transport infrastructure and farmland.

The best estimate for utilities is £104 million, with a range of £91 million to £117 million. Like transport, utilities are frequently disrupted by flood events. Utility costs relate to:

• physical damages to infrastructure

• additional operational costs

• welfare damages to consumers who suffer disruption or loss of services

The water companies reported operational and infrastructure costs of £97 million, 10 5% of total costs. The majority of the costs arose from clearing sewers and pumping floodwater. No welfare damages were reported for loss of water services, although the Agency says is some anecdotal evidence to suggest some sewerage services to a few customers were disrupted for a short period of time.

The approaches adopted to assess the economic damages are based on the methods developed and extensive research from 3 previous reports published by the Environment Agency: ‘The costs of 2007 floods in England’; ‘Assessing the economic costs of floods’; and ‘The costs and impacts of the winter 2013 to 2014 floods’.

The nature of the economic costs follow a similar pattern to the damages seen from the 2007 and the 2013 to 2014 floods, with property and transport damages dominating.

However, business property damages were significantly larger than household property damages in the 2015 to 2016 floods – a pattern not normally expected and not seen in either the 2007 or the 2013 to 2014 floods.

In terms of scale, the economic damages from the 2015 to 2016 winter floods are similar to the 2013 to 2014 winter floods. The 2007 summer floods, are by some margin the largest in terms of economic damages of these 3 flood events. The 2007 data are used in the Multi-Coloured Manual (MCM) for investment appraisals, within the rapid flood cost calculator and in the partnership funding calculator. The outcomes of the report will also be used in future updates to the MCM.

The findings will now be used to update the evidence base on the economic damages of flooding and associated decision making rules for investment.

The Environment Agency said that drawing on data from all these events will help to improve investment decisions.

Click here to download the full report The costs of the winter 2015 to 2016 floods