The floods in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia make 2021 the most costly natural disaster year for insurers in Germany. According to calculations by the industry association GDV for natural hazards, they will have to pay around 12.5 billion euros this year - more than ever since the association began keeping records on this in the early 1970s. The year that was coming to an end exceeded the hurricane year 1990. At that time, the storms “Daria”, “Vivian” and “Wiebke” hit Germany, so that the insured damage - at today's prices - totaled 11.5 billion euros.
The natural catastrophe losses this year are more than three times the long-term average of 3.8 billion euros.
Due to climate change, researchers expect increasing damage from floods, hail and severe storms in countries like Germany over the next few years.
For the flash flood alone on the Ahr, the Erft and other tributaries of the Rhine, which washed away entire villages in July, the insurers are preparing for claims payments of 8.2 billion euros.
The majority of this, 7.7 billion, is attributable to damage to houses, household effects and businesses.
"We have already paid out over three billion euros to our customers within a short period of time," said the general manager of the GDV, Jörg Asmussen.
For motor insurers, on the other hand, a series of hailstones in June was the largest single loss at around 700 million euros - and the fourth largest hail loss in the past 50 years.
In total, the series of thunderstorms in June caused insured losses of 1.7 billion euros.
The flash flood in the Rhineland had once again triggered a debate about compulsory insurance against natural hazards.
In the opinion of the GDV, however, it would not solve the problem.
Instead, the insurers only want to offer residential building policies that include natural hazards such as floods and heavy rain, as Asmussen explained.
They also urge government interventions such as building bans in flood-prone areas.