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Shopping street in Bad Neuenahr on August 21, 2021
Photo: Reiner Zensen / imago images / Reiner Zensen
More than a month after the flood disaster in Germany, the insurers are making progress with the damage assessment and have to revise their forecast upwards.
"We are now expecting insurance losses of around seven billion euros," said the general manager of the German Insurance Association (GDV), Jörg Asmussen.
Around 6.5 billion euros of this went to residential buildings, household effects and businesses, and around 450 million euros to motor vehicles.
"The dimensions of this extreme event only become apparent as the loss recording and settlement progress," said Asmussen.
So far, the association had estimated the damage at the upper end of the range of 4.5 to 5.5 billion euros.
The storm front »Bernd« moved across large parts of Germany from July 13th to 18th and caused floods with at least 180 deaths.
Severe damage from heavy rain and floods occurred primarily in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, but also in Bavaria and Saxony.
The federal and state governments have launched an aid fund worth 30 billion euros.
The insurers are currently assuming around 250,000 claims - around 200,000 on houses, household effects and businesses and up to 50,000 on motor vehicles.
The flash flood is the historically most damaging natural disaster in Germany.
According to GDV, the damage is higher than that of the floods in August 2002 (4.75 billion euros) and in June 2013 (2.25 billion euros) as well as the storm "Kyrill" (3.6 billion euros).
Actual damage much higher
"Together with the high hail damage in early summer, it is becoming apparent that 2021 will be one of the most expensive natural hazard years for insurers," explained Asmussen.
The actual storm damage is still far above the current estimates, since by far not all buildings are insured against all natural hazards.
While almost all residential buildings nationwide are protected against storms and hail, according to the association, only 46 percent have protection against other natural hazards such as heavy rain and floods.
mmq / Reuters