The cost of natural disasters in France is expected to rise to 10 billion euros in 2022, France Assureurs announced on Thursday, a record since 1999, with “the intensification of extreme climatic phenomena” and an “increase in their frequency”.
The year 2022 “on the front of climatic events is truly the annus horribilis”, underlined Florence Lustman, president of France Assureurs interviewed on Europe 1, citing hailstorms, storms, floods and “a year also exceptional on the drought front”.
Hail and storms are expensive
In detail, the episodes of hail and storms between May and July cost €6.4 billion, specifies the federation to 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 an average exposure zone or strong to the shrinkage-swelling of clay soils (RGA), a phenomenon linked to the succession of episodes of drought in summer and re-wetting of soils 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.
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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 yearsdouble the last 30.
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