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Storm Ylenia
swept a flat roof onto the street in Gelsenkirchen
Photo: --- / dpa
Three storms swept over Germany's roofs last week.
After the hurricanes "Ylenia" and "Zeynep", "Antonia" caused a lot of damage on Sunday evening, especially in northern Germany.
Such natural events are an expensive spectacle for insurance companies.
Ylenia alone could cost German insurers 500 million euros.
Zeynep probably did much more damage.
The current problem for insurers: The intervals between years with little damage and years with a lot of damage are becoming shorter.
2021 was the most expensive year for insurance.
According to statistics from the General Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV), natural hazards are expected to cause damage of 12.5 billion euros in 2021.
Above all, the flooding caused by the low-pressure area "Bernd" had a major impact.
Billions in costs will follow again this year.
For insurers, high claims sums are not unusual.
The three most severe storms of the past 20 years were "Kyrill" in 2007 with a loss of 3.6 billion euros, "Jeanet" in 2018 with 1.45 billion euros and also in 2018 "Friederike" with 1.25 billion euros.
Nevertheless, the GDV is concerned about the recent density of events.
"In the course of climate change, we will probably have to adjust to the fact that the intensity of weather events will increase," says Anja-Käfer-Rohrbach, deputy general manager of the GDV.
She assumes that stormy times are ahead for insurance companies.
Requirement: insurance cover for all residential buildings
The association therefore presented a discussion paper last autumn, which is now also available to the conference of justice ministers.
The paper provides for comprehensive insurance coverage for all residential buildings and wants to make it clear to the government what steps are necessary to adapt to new climate conditions.
Only half of the residential buildings in Germany are currently protected against natural hazards.
Stiftung Warentest has just tested 178 residential building insurance policies with elementary damage protection - the offers show large differences in price and performance.
Older contracts often have dangerous gaps, as the testers write.
One provider is Allianz, among others.
Insurance has been preparing for increasing climate damage for years, not only in Germany.
These include flooding, backwater, snow pressure, avalanches and landslides.
Home insurance for floods
From Allianz's point of view, it is still too early to make a serious estimate of the possible development of natural hazards this year.
The mass of extreme weather situations is decisive for the final cost estimate.
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Individual climate events do not lead to an increase in premiums. To do this, various factors must be taken into account, such as damage and cost expenses in recent years," says Gaby Hundehege, head of private building insurance at Allianz.
From Allianz's point of view, residential building insurance is particularly important.
Household contents insurance also makes sense for many households, because the new private protection also insures terraces and balconies against flooding, says Hundehege.
However, extreme weather events such as flooding or heavy rain can usually only be insured with an additional elementary damage policy.
In the event of a flood, most customers are also insured for their belongings in the basement.
In the course of climate change, informing customers more about floods and heavy rain and offering them solutions to protect themselves is an important task in society.
"Our campaigns are showing success, but we cannot be satisfied with the results," says Hundehege.
Because when flooding occurs again, people without insurance are often left stranded despite the amount of water.
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