Insurers: the Netherlands suffered less financial damage from extreme weather in 2023

Dutch people suffered significantly less damage due to extreme weather last year, the Dutch Association of Insurers reports in the annual Climate Damage Monitor. Insurers received around 357 million euros worth of damage reports due to lightning, hail, rain, flooding, frost, or storms. This is around half of the record sum that had come forth in 2022.

According to the association, 112 million euros was paid out for damaged motor vehicles. Summer weather was the main problem for Dutch citizens in the country and abroad. The heavy summer storm, Poly, caused 83 million euros worth of damage in July. Insurers paid out 45 million euros after hailstorms in southern Europe. This included damaged cars and caravans.

The damage fees of 2023 are about the same as the average of the last few years, the Dutch Association of Insurers reported. The association has kept accounts of the total damage fees since 2007.

A major reason people suffered less damage last year is that there were no notable winter storms in the Netherlands. In 2022, the winter storms Eunice, Dudley, and Franklin caused a large part of the total damage.

Dutch Association of Insurers General Manager Richard Weurding thinks the Netherlands should do more to adapt to climate change. “We cannot simply build on risky locations such as river floodplains and areas outside the dikes. We must give rivers space and take the right measures to protect them.”

He also spoke about damage prevention. Weurding thinks that many people do not know what to do in case of extreme weather. “It helps if you know the (climate) risks of the area you live in. If you know that extreme weather is coming, you prevent a lot of damage with preventive measures. Close your windows, putting your stuff in dry areas, putting garden supplies in the shed,” he advised.