St Jude's Day storm 'to cost insurers £500 million' Engineers have already restored supplies to more than 600,000 properties since the gale hit, but are facing difficulties in reconnecting some affected areas, where British Red Cross volunteers have been on hand to help residents. Many of those still without power are in coastal areas, which are at the end of the energy network. In Aldeburgh, on the Suffolk coast, residents were yesterday facing their second day without power. Shops reported a rush on batteries, restaurants were forced to turn customers away, and hotels in the resort had to relocate guests. The Brudenell and White Lion hotels, both operated by Suffolk-based TA Hotel Collection, have had to move guests to other hotels out of town. The local pharmacist, Barry Shooter, said he and his staff were having to handwrite prescriptions and deliver them to the housebound. Mr Shooter said: "We need light to dispense accurately. Our pharmacist is wearing a head torch and her assistants are working with hand torches. We are not 100 per cent happy about releasing prescriptions with checking the records on our computer. We also supply over-counter-medicine. Working only by light coming through the windows is not desirable. Around 2,500 engineers are working on the network to repair cables and reconnect affected areas. They are using helicopters to locate and assess the damage. As recovery work continued, tributes were paid to those killed during the storm, which is estimated to have caused around £1 billion of damage. Tess Peirce, the mother of 17-year-old Bethany Freeman, killed when a 30ft tree toppled on her caravan as she slept, said the family had been "absolutely devastated" by the death. Ms Peirce, who had been sleeping in another caravan while renovation work was carried out on the family property at Hever, Kent, spoke with Bethany, a Tunbridge Wells Grammar School pupil, while firefighters and neighbours fought to free her but she died a short while later. In a statement, the mother said: "We are all absolutely devastated at the loss of my daughter. I would like to thank the emergency services for their tremendous efforts in attempting to save her. Bethany's brother, Guthrie Freeman, 36, a television researcher, said: "She is and was a great friend for everyone and the best sister I could have asked for." In Hounslow, west London, the bodies of Suhail Akhtar, 46, and Dorota Kolasinska, 34, were found in the wreckage of their home after a falling tree ruptured a gas main, leading to an explosion. Friends said the IT contractor and his girlfriend, understood to have worked for Hackney Council, would be "sorely missed." The other confirmed death was of Donal Drohan, 51, a father of three, from Harrow, west London, who died when his car was hit by a tree in Watford, Hertfordshire. A fifth person, Dylan Atkins, 14, is feared dead after being swept out to sea in the storm. His body has not been recovered. The St Jude's Day storm, named after the patron saint of lost causes, was the worst gale to hit Britain in more than a decade. The brunt was borne by southern and eastern England, which suffered major road and rail disruption on Monday, the effects of which were still being felt yesterday, with closures on the Watford to St Albans, Marks Tey to Sudbury, Witham to Braintree, and Ipswich to Lowestoft lines. More than 300 trees have been removed from railway lines and several miles of overhead power lines have been repaired. Around 500 engineers were called out to resolve the problems - including 27 "chainsaw teams." The cost to the insurance industry could be up to £500 million, according to Willie Re, the brokers. Mohammad Khan, an insurance partner at PwC, said: "The storm is hitting the largest exposure in insurers books: where the density of properties is highest and where buildings are the least tested to high wind speeds." Yesterday, there were still 47 flood warnings in place across the country - down from 111 at the peak of the storm. But only 14 properties were reported as having been flooded.