Nearly 13,000 flood damage claims from Limburg

Dutch insurers so far received 12,658 claims for damages caused by flooding in Limburg last month, the Dutch Association of Insurers said on Thursday. From Friday, victims of the flooding can claim a gift of 1,000 euros from the Giro 777 fundraiser, the National Disaster Fund reported.

Most of the damage claims came from Valkenburg at 2,873, the insurers said. The municipality previously estimated that flooding in Valkenburg caused some 400 million euros in damages. Heerlen also saw a lot of damage, with 1,987 claims coming from the municipality. As did Meersen with 1,345 damage claims.

According to the insurers, the majority of claims were individuals with damage to their homes. The Dutch insurers received 9,309 such claims so far. 2,100 individual claims for vehicle damage were filed. And 1,250 claims for commercial damage.

The Giro 777 fundraiser raised almost 11 million euros for victims of last month's flooding. From Friday, households that suffered significant damage as a result of the flooding can apply for a 1 thousand euros gift. Applications can be done through their municipality's website.

The intention is that the money will be paid out quickly and with much ado. To be eligible for this gift, victims' home must have seen water reaching the height of a plinth in the living areas on the ground floor of their home - so not just the basement, storage room or garden. They must be able to demonstrate this and the resulting damage during possible inspection. And the municipality must know that the street had flooded.

The disaster fund expects that fewer than 8 thousand households will apply for the gift. If there are more applications, the gift may have to be lowered.