Floods are increasingly costing the French state and the French people more and more. Especially since the future should not be a source of good news…
The flood bill is becoming exorbitant for the French. They have led to insurance costs of more than 1 billion euros this year, an increase of 40% compared to 2023. It must be remembered that it is French households which, of all European households, are the more exposed to flooding, according to calculations just published by the insurer Allianz.
This is not new: between 2000 and 2010, a French household lost on average nearly 16,500 euros due to floods, compared to 10,500 euros for an Italian, and 7,800 euros for a German.
The future is not reassuring
But it is above all the French, more than other Europeans, who will bear the brunt of the multiplication of these climatic accidents since over the next 10 years, the cumulative bill for bad weather could almost double, up to 35,000 euros per household in average, compared to 10,000 to 15,000 euros in Italy and Germany. And the consequences of these floods go well beyond the increase in insurance premiums…
Already, home insurance premiums could rise by an average of 10% next year, and not only in disaster-stricken regions since insurance companies pass on the increase in reimbursements to all of their customers. By 2050, premiums could double from 470 to 1,000 euros.
Above all, more and more areas at risk, near a river or near the sea, could no longer even be insurable. And that in these areas, houses will no longer be sellable. Knowing that around two out of three municipalities have already been declared at risk of flooding by the prefects, or around 64% of the territory.
Business Cyprus: The cost of floods – 18/10
An impact on the economic fabric
Many sectors are affected throughout the year. Agriculture, with production and turnover losses of 10 to 20% depending on the sector at the national level. But also transport of course, whether road but also river. Tourism and hospitality, logistics, SMEs, commerce (the Givors shopping center was completely flooded on Thursday for example), there are hundreds of businesses under threat, sometimes operating in already fragile economic zones. Over the year, we will have an impact of 0.1 point of GDP.
Emmanuel Lechypre (edited by JA)
