In 2022, extreme weather in the Netherlands caused a record amount of more than 886 million euros in damage. This is reported by the Dutch Association of Insurers on Wednesday in the Climate Damage Monitor.
By far the most damage (714 million euros) was caused last year by the three storms that left a trail of destruction in February: Eunice, Dudley and Franklin. The amount of damage caused by the storms was considerably higher than the more than 500 million euros that the insurers initially counted on.
The previous damage record due to extreme weather dates back to 2016, when insurers faced a total of 770 million euros in claims. This was mainly due to hail damage. The figures have been kept since 2007.
“Extreme precipitation and storms are costing society more and more money,” says general director Richard Weurding of the association in a statement. The impact of climate change is evident. So we must do everything we can to make the Netherlands more climate-proof.”
Krijg een melding bij nieuwe berichten
Role of climate change not always clear
Incidentally, it remains to be seen what role climate change played in the record amount of damage in 2022. KNMI experts previously wrote that global warming played “no significant role” in the storms in February.
“The influence of climate change on the formation of winter storms is small and dwarfed by the large year-to-year variations in our winter wind climate. However, in a warmer climate, the amount of precipitation associated with these storms increases,” it explained. KNMI then out.
However, experts have established that the risk of other forms of natural disaster is increasing as a result of global warming. For example, according to climate scientists, the chance of extremely high rainfall in Western Europe has increased in a short period of time, as happened in the summer of 2021.
Then large parts of South Limburg, Germany and Belgium flooded. In the same year, Leersum in Utrecht was hit hard by fall winds. According to the KNMI, the chance of this is also increasing because it is getting warmer.
KNMI is working on improvements together with the insurance sector. To be able to warn early, the institute is building an Early Warning Center (EWC). The idea is that damage can be limited if risks can be better estimated in advance.
2023-05-10 21:17:24
#Extreme #weather #caused #record #damage #million #euros #Interior
