Flood damage in the Ahr valley: the fight with insurance

In July flash floods destroyed thousands of houses – especially in the Ahr valley. It was the most expensive natural disaster in Germany to date, reported Munich Re. Many of those affected are still waiting for help – despite being insured.

“What happened here? Not much.” Marion Wenzel stands in the hallway of her house in Bad Neuenahr and points to the walls. Chipped plaster, open pipes, the floor has been pried open. “Actually everything is missing on the ground floor. I don’t even have a heater. I don’t have permission for all the stories.” Your house is insured against natural hazards. Just two weeks after the disaster, an expert came to assess the massive damage. Wenzel took care of craftsmen, had cost estimates made and forwarded the documents to the insurance company. The offers were rejected without a reason.

The resulting problem for Marion Wenzel: She is not allowed to commission a company without approval and acceptance of the assumption of costs. “I then had at least one heating system installed on the upper floor at my own expense. The day before Christmas Eve, the craftsmen were there until 9 p.m. I wonder what I paid all this insurance for when the approval process ultimately takes so long.”

The most expensive year of natural hazards ever

Overall, the devastating flash flood, together with the hail damage from early summer 2021, caused the highest damage ever recorded in Germany. “With insured damage to houses, household effects, businesses and motor vehicles of around 12.5 billion euros, 2021 will be the most expensive year of natural hazards since statistics began in the early 1970s,” says Jörg Asmussen, General Manager of the German Insurance Association (GDV). Of these, the flood on the Ahr and Erft last summer caused the highest insurance damage with 8.2 billion euros – above all to residential buildings, household effects and businesses. In the meantime, the insurers have paid out a little over three billion euros of this amount of damage.

And that’s just the damage that insurance has to pay for. The actual degree of destruction is far higher. The reinsurer Munich Re announced in its annual balance sheet that the flood disaster in Germany caused damage amounting to 33 billion euros and confirmed that it was the most expensive natural disaster in Germany to date.

Reinsurers: Expensive dynamics

Reinsurance companies like Munich Re only act as secondary insurers in relation to the loss situation – as insurers for primary insurers. This means that very large risks can be made financially viable by spreading them over many insurance companies. Ernst Rauch, chief climatologist at Munich Re, points above all to the great dynamism of the change in the loss amounts. Compared to the most expensive damaging event to date – the floods along the Elbe with a damage amount of two billion euros in 2002 and 2013 – the consequences of the most recent flood disaster have increased by a factor of four.

That is why we urgently have to adapt, warns Rauch: “It is very important that new buildings are no longer built in designated floodplains, as happened too often in the past. This can no longer be continued in the long term, because someone has to do this at the end of the day Pay damages “. The economic consequences of climate change are a “grandchildren” issue, so Rauch, because it will occupy the next generations.

Compulsory insurance for natural hazards?

The enormous damage has once again triggered a discussion about compulsory insurance for natural hazards. In response to this, the German insurers have submitted proposals for an overall concept for climate change adaptation: “Essentially, the GDV proposals provide that in future there should only be residential building insurance that also covers so-called elementary risks such as floods and heavy rain,” said association spokesman Asmussen. The aim is to secure all private residential buildings against extreme weather risks.

Marion Wenzel has hired a lawyer to enforce her claims against the insurance company. Markus Gerd Krämmer represents around 60 clients from the Ahr valley. “As insurance lawyers in the firm, we find that the clerks are simply overwhelmed. Old claims routines that no longer fit into reality are simply continued.” Will there be any movement now? Krämer is cautiously optimistic. And Wenzel also hopes that she will soon receive approvals for upcoming work and that she will be able to make her house her home again.