Worst natural disasters for German insurance| ��ƽ��

Most damaging natural disasters for the insurance industry in Germany from 2002 to 2022 (in million euros)

Characteristic	Property damage¹	Motor damage²
Flash flood Bernd³ (July 13-18, 2021)	9,100	390
August flood (July 31 - September 2, 2002)	5,500	120
Storm Kyrill (January 18-19, 2007)	3,800	250
Hailstorm Andreas (July 27-28, 2013)	2,250	1,350
June flood (May 25 - June 15, 2013)	2,650	0
Storm Jeanett (October 27-28, 2002)	1,550	150
Hailstorm Hilal (May 29 - June 2, 2008)	600	850
Storm Friederike (January 18, 2018)	1,300	100
Storm Ylenia, Zeynep, Antonia⁴ (February 16 - 21, 2022)	1,250	150
Hailstorm Ulfert, Volker, Wolfgang (June 18 - 24, 2021)	600	800

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Source

Release date

October 2023

More information

Region

Germany

Survey time period

2002 to 2022

Supplementary notes

¹ Projected based on inventory and prices in 2020; rounded in 50 million euros.
² Flooding events are identified in motor insurance starting from a national incidence of loss of 0.1 percent. Therefore, the June flooding is not an event considered by motor insurance.
³ Preliminary figures from other surveys as of June 2023.
⁴ Preliminary from other surveys.

Citation formats

The German insurance industry has seen its share of expensive natural disasters, but in recent history the flash flood disaster in July 2021 exceeded others recorded since the 2000s. Storm Bernd brought torrents of heavy rainfall to several German states, subsequently leading to rivers overflowing and massively destroying residential areas built near the banks. The flood also claimed lives. Property damage resulted in 9.1 billion euros worth of claims.

Natural Disasters

In the context of global climate change, natural disasters such as floods or extreme droughts are becoming much more common. While Eastern German federal states such as Brandenburg are especially at risk for drought, west and southern Germany are most likely to be affected by flooding.
In 2024, Germany had a flood risk score of 7.8, making it one of the counties most exposed to river floods.

In this climate

With the average temperatures trending upwards for the past 30 years, the 1.5 degree mark has officially been reached in 2024. This leads to a less consistent and mild climate, with higher numbers of hot days and days with heavy rainfall. While the number of days with heavy rainfall is predicted to increase more slowly, the number of hot days is predicted to almost double by 2040 in comparison to the 2000s.