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A destroyed inn on the banks of the Ahr in Dernau, three months after the flood disaster in July
Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa
According to Hannover Re, the flood disaster in Germany is likely to cost the insurance industry significantly more than previously assumed.
After the first explorations at the industry meeting in Baden-Baden, one can "assume that the damage will come closer to ten billion than nine billion euros," said the German boss of the world's third largest reinsurer, Michael Pickel, on Monday.
Most recently, the German insurance association GDV raised its forecast for the damage after the devastating floods caused by the low "Bernd" in July to around seven billion euros.
Initially, there was talk of 4.5 to 5.5 billion euros.
Hannover Re manager Pickel explained his expectation with the enormous force of the water masses that had flowed through areas in northern Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia after the heavy rain.
The insurers based their first calculations on the normal average damage from flood events.
It is now clear that the damage to automobiles alone is about two to three times as high as usual, said Pickel.
When it comes to the contents of damaged houses, there is often nothing left to save, so that the full amount of the damage is due.
In the case of many houses, it is only gradually becoming apparent whether they can still be repaired or demolished.
The reinsurance industry meets in Baden-Baden in October to explore the conditions for the following year with its customers.
che / dpa-AFX
