Severn Trent has revealed today it faces a bill of £35 million from the floods that devastated large swathes of the west country last month and left 140,000 of its customers without water.

The Midlands-based company added that while it expected to recover some £20 million of the charge through insurance, the total cost could rise as more assessment work on the damage is carried out over the coming weeks.

It said: “The size and scale of this incident and the response are, we believe, unprecendented in the recent history of the UK water industry.”

The move came as yet another insurer revealed a claims bill from the flooding. Royal & SunAlliance, home to the More Than brand, said that the July floods were likely to cost it £65 million.

Royal & Sun, the UK's second-biggest commercial insurer, already faces a £55 million bill from the June floods across South Yorkshire.

Separately, the insurance company announced another 500 job cuts in the UK as part of a further £70 million cost-cutting programme. The cuts will mean Royal & Sun has cut 2,500 jobs in its UK business in the past three years.

Andy Haste, R&SA chief executive, said the group was "working with unions".

Severn Trent supplied more than 50 million litres of bottled water to homes across Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and surrounding areas after the floods swamped a treatment works near Tewkesbury.

It also sent in 1,300 water bowsers and installed emergency flood protection systems.

“At the current time, we estimate that the gross cost of dealing with the incident is likely to be in the range of £25 million to £35 million, however we expect this to be partly offset by insurance recoveries of between £10 million and £20 million,” the company said.

“The estimated gross costs and recoveries may be subject to material revision over the coming weeks as the full extent of these become clearer and we will update the market accordingly.”

Severn Trent supplies more than 3 million homes across central and west England. The company has made more than £1 billion in profits over the last five years.

It said today that it was donating £3.5 million to communities affected by the flooding.

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