Central European flood losses seen could hit $3.2B: RMS

(Reuters) – Insured losses from heavy floods in central Europe between May 30 and June 3 are likely to total between €2 billion and €3 billion euros ($2.1billion-$3.2 billion), Moody’s RMS said on Friday.

The bulk of the losses are likely to come from southern Germany and reflect property and contents damage, and business interruption across residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural property, and automobile lines, it said.

The estimate does not include losses from flooding in Switzerland, Austria, Czechia, Hungary, and Italy, which are expected to be minimal.

“In Baden-Württemberg, given the flood insurance take-up rate is as high as 94 %, most of the residential losses will be covered,” said Daniel Bernet, assistant director, model product management, at Moody’s.

“Unfortunately, this high level of coverage is not the case in Bavaria where the flood insurance take-up rate is 47%.”