the 2022 bill for natural disasters estimated at 10 billion euros in France

by time news
The year 2022 “on the front of climatic events it is truly the annus horribilis“. Here, during a fire, near Bordeaux, in September. PHILIPPE LOPEZ / AFP

The year 2022 was described as “annus horribilis” by the president of France Assureurs, this Thursday morning.

The cost of natural disasters in France is expected to rise to 10 billion euros in 2022, the president of France Assureurs announced on Thursday, a record since 1999, due to “the intensification of phenomena“extreme climatic conditions and a “increase in their frequency“. The year 2022 “on the front of climatic events it is truly the annus horribilis“, underlined Florence Lustman, questioned on Europe 1, citing the hailstorms, the storms, the floods and”an equally exceptional year on the drought front».

In detail, the episodes of hail and storms between May and July cost 6.4 billion euros, the federation told AFP. Added to this are the effects of the drought, particularly on individual houses, for an envelope close to 2.5 billion euros. In France, about 54% of individual houses are located in areas of medium or high exposure to shrinkage-swelling of clay soils (RGA), a phenomenon linked to successive episodes of summer drought and soil re-wetting. in autumn or winter which can cause significant damage. Some 3.3 million houses, or about 16% of the total, are even located in high risk areas. Losses observed on harvests, floods and episodes of forest fires during the summer complete the picture. This amount for 2022 marks a significant increase compared to the period 2017-2021. These climatic phenomena cost an average of 3.5 billion euros per year over the period.

The year 2022 is also the worst year since 1999, marked by storms Lothar and Martin. The professional federation of insurers is also not very optimistic for the years to come, in particular because of the increasingly visible effects of climate change. The cumulative bill should exceed 140 billion euros for the next 30 years, double the last 30.


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