Windstorm Christian caused up to £500 million ($846 million) of damage in the UK, according to Willis Re.

The storm struck on October 27 and 28 and also swept through France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Latvia and Estonia.

A damage figure for Europe is not available, but Christian has been compared with 2007’s Windstorm Kyrill, which hit many of the same countries and caused insured damage of £3 billion ($5.07 billion).

The latest storm saw wind speeds of up to 150kmh and caused at least 15 deaths across Europe.

About 660,000 homes in the UK and 75,000 in France were left without power and there was significant disruption to transport networks.

The Environment Agency issued 152 flood alerts across England and Wales.

Willis Re UK Executive Director Tim Edwards says the company’s research indicates insured losses to be “in the region of £300-500 million”.

“Losses from the storm were concentrated predominantly in the south of England, with significant damage coming from fallen trees – which were heavily laden with leaves because of the time of year – fallen tiles and smashed windows,” he said.

The UK press had speculated the event could match the Great Storm of 1987, but catastrophe modeller RMS says “it is clear Christian is not as severe… in terms of peak wind gusts and damage impacts”.

1n 1987 millions of trees were felled and there were 22 fatalities. RMS says the Great Storm caught the UK by surprise because forecasting abilities were limited at the time, whereas warnings of Christian were provided well in advance.

The storm was also known as St Jude in the UK, Carmen in Denmark and Simone in Sweden.