LA tempête Xynthia, which ripped through south west France during Saturday night and Sunday morning, has been declared a catastrophe naturelle by prime minister François Fillon.
This means insurance companies are obliged to take into account flood damage and the government will publish details of the areas covered in the next 48 hours.
It is believed around 50 people lost their lives as winds touching 159 km/h battered the coast with La Rochelle suffering particularly heavy flooding.
People inland reported many trees had been toppled, with around 500,000 people without electricity across western and central France.
Insurers are being urged to process claims as quickly as possible, with UK-based Intasure advising policy holders to take photographs of the damage that has been caused and to get written quotes for the work required.
A claim form is available via the documentation link of the Intasure website.
The website of the Fédération française des sociétés d’assurances also features an extensive collection of articles that covers home owners, but also vehicle damage and those with business premises that suffered damage.
And to get an idea of the impact of the storm take a look over the images uploaded to Flickr by users.