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A “Flood!” poster hangs in a hedge.
© Andreas Arnold/dpa
According to a survey by the insurance industry, Thuringia is, after Saxony, one of the federal states with the most buildings at risk of flooding in Germany.
Berlin/Erfurt - More than 20,000 buildings, apartments and other addresses in Thuringia are at risk of flooding, according to a study by the German Insurance Association (GDV).
After Saxony and before Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia is one of the federal states with the highest proportion of endangered buildings, which include residential buildings, commercial buildings, agricultural or public buildings, the GDV announced on Tuesday in Berlin.
The investigation shows the potential for disaster.
According to this, of the almost 620,000 addresses in Thuringia, more than 20,000 are in a provisionally secured or officially designated flood area or in so-called flood risk areas.
Second highest proportion of buildings at risk in the country
This means that around 2.7 percent of buildings in the Free State are at risk from flooding.
In Saxony it is 3.0 percent and in Rhineland-Palatinate it is 2.0 percent.
The least affected are Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Berlin with values below 0.2 percent.
The study recorded large regional differences within Thuringia.
In percentage terms, most of the buildings at risk of flooding are in Gera - of the almost 17,000 addresses there are around 1,600. That corresponds to a share of 9.7 percent.
The districts of Hildburghausen and Schmalkalden-Meiningen followed with 1,900 (8.3 percent) and almost 2,500 (5.6 percent) addresses in flood areas.
Many flood protection projects
According to the Thuringian Ministry of the Environment, after major flood damage in Gera in 2013, extensive measures were planned on the White Elster and thus also in Gera, the implementation of which has not yet been fully completed.
Newly built flood protection systems will significantly reduce the proportion of houses potentially at risk from flooding.
The Hildburghausen district is particularly at risk from flooding in the Upper Werra.
Flood protection systems have been built in Harras and Eisfeld in recent years.
The state flood protection program will include more than 900 projects by 2027, said a ministry spokesman.
The entire program, which has been running for several years, amounts to 400 million euros.
Insurers view compulsory insurance with skepticism
“Although the figures are official and publicly known, prevention is not on the political agenda, only the debate about the introduction of compulsory insurance against natural hazards,” criticized GDV deputy general manager Anja Käfer-Rohrbach.
Due to climate change and the resulting more frequent extreme weather events, billions of euros in damage are inevitable, and not just in Thuringia.
The insurers have therefore sent a list of demands to politicians.
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From the insurers' point of view, the compulsory insurance, which is also required by the Thuringian state government, does not help solve the problem.
“With a pure insurance solution, the necessary costs are largely borne by the property owners and the insured community,” said Käfer-Rohrbach.
Thuringia's Environment Ministry, however, described the debate on the introduction of compulsory insurance as a building block for improving flood prevention.
dpa