Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The cost to insurance companies of this week’s flooding in parts of the U.K. may be as much as 100 million pounds ($165 million), according to the Association of British Insurers.

Heavy rains and winds swept across northwestern England and southwestern Scotland this week, bringing floods that forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from their homes.

“The current estimate is up to 100 million pounds albeit this likely to change as more claims come in,” Malcolm Tarling, a London-based spokesman for the ABI, said in an e-mail.

Britain suffered its wettest period in 241 years of record- keeping in the summer of 2007. Flooding in towns along the Severn and Thames rivers contributed to 130,000 flood claims in England, causing an estimated 3 billion pounds of losses, the ABI said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nandini Sukumar in London at nsukumar@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 21, 2009 12:37 EST