When the water recedes, the work begins

After the dramatic floods in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, the situation is slowly normalizing, despite new rainfall in some places. But now the work is just beginning. ‘We expect insured losses in the region of two billion euros,’ said Jörg Asmussen, Managing Director of the German Insurance Association (GDV) last week. Most of the damage was to buildings, which now have to be surveyed and settled. A lot of work for the insurers.

Manuel Leichtle, for example, also had buildings insurance against damage caused by natural forces, and Allianz is covering the costs, drying the walls, replacing the heating and the lost household contents. The contents are currently scattered around the garden or have already been disposed of in a dumpster, including several expensive motorbike outfits, the children's toys and mementos from his deceased parents. Stoye transfers 54,000 euros directly to Leichtle's account after a quick calculation on his laptop. The sum may increase over time if further damage occurs.

The flood disaster is a mammoth task for the insurance industry. ‘We have already received 6,000 claims in the first few days,’ says Christian Krams, Chief Claims Officer at Versicherungskammer Bayern, in his office in Munich. A figure that far exceeds the usual expectations for such events. A task force of around 20 specialists is now meeting every morning at the Versicherungskammer to coordinate the tense situation. 700 employees are working on the claims from the past few days, supported by colleagues from other departments.

‘With this number of damage reports, we may have to prioritize,’ explains Krams. Claims involving dangerous goods or hazardous substances could be prioritized over minor basement flooding, for example. According to Allianz, it has sent more than 600 experts to the flood area, and 6,700 drying devices are on their way to the region. If you walk through the particularly affected town of Wertingen today, it doesn't look too bad at first glance: The water has drained away, the cars are driving again, the supermarkets are open. But there's hardly anyone who isn't wearing wellies, carrying wet furniture outside, cleaning and sorting things out. Diesel generators are roaring in the driveways, car tyres, tools and broken washing machines are piled up.

Many people here are puzzled as to how the three streams that usually flow leisurely through the village have become raging torrents in such a short space of time. Practically everyone agrees: it's never happened before. Drone and mobile phone videos show how much of the small town was under water at the beginning of June - streets, supermarkets and several residential buildings were flooded and many residents were brought to safety by boat.

Andreas Stoye now visits one of them. Hans Volpert, 69, wearing a work uniform, explains his motto as he greets him: ‘I may have water in my house, but I have sunshine in my heart.’ Even when the flood came in the middle of the night, he didn't lose heart and tried to save what he could in his waders. Until the boat came to pick him up. ‘The worst moment for me,’ says Volpert. Three of his buildings were damaged: The water was knee-high in his house, built in 1864. He had rented out the front building, built in the 1950s, to commercial customers. It is now empty, with the wooden floor bulging on all sides. His garage is also damaged.

‘You're a financier, but you're also a psychologist of some kind without any psychological training,’ Andreas Stoye had said in the morning - a sentence that becomes clear at this point at the latest. He has already experienced several floods, in Simbach in 2016 and in the Ahr Valley in 2021. Nevertheless, the disaster now has a special dimension, says the Allianz man. ‘The extent of the spread, from Lake Constance to Passau, has a quality of its own,’ says the 45-year-old. It shows ‘how much of the credit Mother Nature has given us we have already gambled away’.

The fact that extreme weather events such as storms, hail, heavy rain and flooding are becoming more frequent in Germany can almost certainly be attributed to the progression of climate change. A few days ago, French climate researchers explained in a brief analysis that global warming had probably intensified the storms in southern Germany. Up to ten per cent more precipitation had fallen as a result of the higher temperatures. And the Federal Environment Agency's climate impact and risk analysis published in 2021 predicts that extreme weather events will increase in the coming years, particularly in eastern and south-west Germany. According to the authors, if climate change continues, weather events could spread to the whole of Germany by the end of the century.

In view of increasing climate risks, however, this will hardly be enough, which is why the insurers' concept is based on a total of three pillars: In addition to prevention and individual protection measures, this includes private insurance cover and state support for extreme natural disasters. Christian Krams from Versicherungskammer Bayern believes that the first step is to offer people suitable insurance cover. ‘It is incomprehensible to me that someone who owns a house is not insured accordingly.’ Currently, 54 per cent of buildings in Germany are insured against high water and flooding. In Bavaria, the figure is only 47 per cent. Wouldn't the introduction of compulsory insurance against damage caused by natural hazards be an effective solution? No, Krams does not believe that this proposal would be effective; instead, further preventative measures should be taken. Flood polders, flood meadows, but also the securing of heating oil tanks and stable basement windows are necessary to prevent future damage.

‘I don't want to know how much more damage we'll be hit with,’ says Andreas Stoye at the end of a long working day - and shows a message from the town of Wertingen on his smartphone, warning of health risks from contaminated water. Stoye finds this worrying. But that's it for today. He has visited four customers, walked through cellars, felt walls, photographed countless cases of flood damage and transferred around 150,000 euros - and has been thanked every time.