This Wednesday, the Central Reinsurance Fund (CCR) estimated the cost of floods covered under the natural disaster regime in Hauts-de-France at 550 million euros, at least half of which is covered by it. .
The invoice announced by the CCR, which applies to the entire insurance market, is a first estimate, which may be revised. “This is an extremely important event, exceptional on the scale of the affected departments,” Edouard Vieillefond, general director of the public reinsurer, told AFP.
Insurers urged not to “nitpick”
On Monday, the professional federation of insurers invited its members to pay affected policyholders an advance in the days following the request for a deposit after an initial assessment. A mobilization which follows the intervention of the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, who had called on insurers a few hours earlier not to “nitpick”.
In Pas-de-Calais, only one river, the Canche, remains on orange alert for the risk of flooding on Wednesday and should remain so on Thursday. The decline is in progress, but it is “slow” and “significant overflows can still be observed”, according to Vigicrues. The Aa, which had been heavily overflowed in recent days, is now classified in green, the Hem in yellow.
Large additional premiums expected in the coming years
The total cost of claims (earthquake, drought, other floods or submersion outside of storms) exceeds one billion euros this year for the CCR, or more or less the premiums collected in this respect.
The regime dedicated to natural disasters has been in deficit 6 of the last 7 years and has had to draw on its reserves, which went from around 4.5 billion euros in 2016 to 2 billion euros at the start of the year, recalls Edouard Vieillefond. This chronic deficit of the system raises the question of its financing, today through a 12% surcharge on home insurance contracts.
The professional federation France Assureurs voted in mid-October for an increase to 18% of this additional premium. The CCR leans in favor of an increase to 19% initially and to 22% by 2050. “Catastrophic events are more and more frequent with increasingly strong intensities, which was catastrophic a long time ago. at twenty years is almost becoming recurrent and we are preparing for worse in twenty years with global warming, believes Mr. Vieillefond.