Recent winter storms cost insurers 1.6 billion euros

Munich The series of three severe storms in the past few days is likely to cost German insurers billions again. According to initial estimates, the insurance broker Aon expects insured losses of around 1.6 billion euros, as announced in Hamburg on Monday.

“We assume that ‘Ylena’ and ‘Zeynep’ are among the most damaging storms in Germany,” said Aon Germany boss Jan-Oliver Thofern. This means that the damage already corresponds to around half of the total insured damage in an average insured year.

The north and center of Germany in particular have been particularly affected since last week. Three storms within a few days had caused considerable destruction there. According to Aon estimates, storm “Ylena” caused insured damage of around 500 million euros from Wednesday.

The hurricane “Zeynep” that followed on Friday caused twice as much damage at one billion euros. According to initial calculations, the storm “Antonia” accounted for around 100 million euros in insured losses. For comparison: When storm Sabine swept across Germany in February 2020, the sum of the insured losses was 675 million euros, according to the insurer Ergo. Since then, Sabine has ranked sixth among the most serious winter storms.

The current vegetation in February still had a positive effect, but comparable storms later in the year would have had even greater consequences. “The damage would have been even higher if the trees had already had leaves, which would have caused even more trees to fall over due to the sail effect,” says Aon Germany boss Thofern.

Wind speeds up to 152 kilometers per hour

Insurers generally speak of a storm from wind force eight, which corresponds to wind speeds of 63 kilometers per hour. There is talk of a hurricane from wind force 12 and more than 110 kilometers per hour. By then at the latest, you can expect covered roofs, damaged chimneys and satellite systems, and even trees that have been uprooted. Wind speeds of up to 152 kilometers per hour were even measured on the Brocken in the Harz Mountains last week.

For those affected, it is often not just the pure storm damage. “A storm usually doesn’t come alone. It is often accompanied by flooding, heavy rain and sometimes hail,” says Mathias Scheuber, CEO of Ergo Versicherung AG.

In the processing of the insurance damage, the different causes of damage are of great importance. Homeowners insurance covers most of the damage. In addition to storm and hail, this also includes fire and water damage.

However, so that floods are also protected, what is known as elementary insurance is required as an additional component. Especially during the devastating flood disaster last summer in the Ahr valley, many of those affected did not have this additional module in their policy.

In the meantime, there has been an initiative on the part of politicians and insurers that makes protection against flooding mandatory. If you don’t want it, you’d have to opt out. A decision on this should be made by the summer.

In principle, insurers assume that severe storms will also increase significantly in Germany in the coming years. “Climate researchers predict that particularly severe storms, which previously only occur every 50 years, can occur every ten years in the future,” says Ergo Versicherung boss Scheuber.

More: Storm Ylenia: When insurance companies pay for storm damage