Natural disaster costs hit 23-year high in France
Natural disasters cost French insurers €10 billion last year, a two-decade high as such events become more frequent and intense, the head of the sector's federation said on Thursday.
A bridge over the dried out Loire River bed at Loireauxence, western France on September 20, 2022. (Photo by Damien MEYER / AFP)
“It was an annus horribilis,” France Assureurs president Florence Lustman told Europe 1 radio, citing the hailstorms, floods and droughts that hit the country last year.
Natural disasters cost the industry €3.5 billion on average per year between 2017-2021.
The 2022 figure is the highest since storms pummelled France in 1999.
The insurance federation said the bill from natural disasters will exceed €140 billion over the next 30 years, double the amount for the previous three decades. Click toRead more