Losses from Europe’s Storm Boris €2bn-€3bn: Gallagher Re

Insured losses from Storm Boris/Anett, which brought persistent rain and flooding to parts of central Europe over the past week, have been pegged at €2bn-€3bn, according to a preliminary estimate from Gallagher Re.

Gallagher Re said it is still too early to provide a precise insured loss figure, but the ongoing event is “extensive” and expectations are growing that it “could rank among the costliest weather/climate events on record in this part of the European continent”, in line with comments earlier this week from Aon’s Impact Forecasting team.

Gallagher Re said the event follows significant flooding in southern Germany in May/June this year. “(Re)insurers attention remains on the Europe flood peril following several notable events in recent months and years,” Gallagher Re said.

“The September 2024 floods continued a stretch of months and years that has seen large annual variability dealing with intense drought and/or anomalous rainfall across Europe,” Gallagher Re explained. “These swings are consistent with climate change research, which suggests an elevated frequency of shifts from one weather extreme to another.”

Addressing the European Union on Wednesday, EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarčič said the floods and the wildfires currently raging in Portugal are evidence of “climate breakdown”.

“Europe is the fastest-warming continent globally and is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events like the one we are discussing today. We could not return to a safer past,” Lenarčič said. “This tragedy is not an anomaly. This is fast becoming the norm for our shared future,” he warned.

A near stationary low pressure system caused continuous rainfall across central Europe from 12 September, particularly affecting Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Romania.

At least 24 people have died in the storm, with inundation and damage to homes and businesses, vehicles, infrastructure and agriculture. But Gallagher Re said weather models predicted the event to trigger public warnings days before, which together with increased investment in flood defences, “have been critical in mitigating losses”.

It added that the latest flooding in the region “may likewise highlight the increasing need for additional funding and protection, especially across less populated towns and communities that incurred significant damage in recent days”.

Aon’s Impact Forecasting team said earlier this week that flooding and damage in the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria could make it “one of the costliest events on record for the region”.

Aon said waters have not yet fully receded and more rain later spread to southern Germany and Italy.

Flood waves posed a risk along main water courses in Austria and in Poland, where multiple towns and cities evacuated. Residents of Nysa in Poland were told the whole town was at risk of flooding from a wave potentially several meters high, while the collapse of a reservoir in Stronie Ślonskie flooded the entire town. Bratislava in Slovakia was braced for the Danube to crest today at near-level records.

Aon said “significant damage occurred in parts of the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria” as the storm stalled over the region and caused unusual amounts of rainfall for the time of year. In the Czech Republic, the most affected areas are in the catchments of the Opava, Odra and Morava rivers, with “instances of catastrophe damage” in the Jeseniky region, which was largely cut off after structures and bridges were swept away. Several towns and municipalities in the Czech Republic were partly or completely flooded, Aon said, with 80% of the town of Krnov underwater.

Austria has also seen rain and widespread flooding, particularly in lower Austria, which was declared a disaster area. Aon said notable property losses were reported from the districts of Tulln and Krems, as well as cases of damage and disruption in Vienna, including to its metro systems, as the river Wien overflowed.