The hailstorm that swept across Switzerland at the end of August caused insured losses of about CHF1.7 billion, according to an estimate by the Zurich-based reinsurer Swiss Re. Damage to cars alone accounts for roughly CHF800 million of that total, close to half of the overall bill.
The storm struck on 28 August, bringing strong gusts and large hail. In some places the hailstones measured up to five centimetres across, large enough to dent car bodies and crack glass. The cantons of Bern, Solothurn, Aargau, Zurich and Thurgau were hit hardest. Leopold Camara, a senior Swiss Re executive, presented the figures at a press conference during the reinsurance industry’s annual gathering in Baden-Baden. He said the storm had passed over a relatively densely populated area, which helps explain the size of the losses, and warned that the bill could have been far higher still. “The same event in Zurich would probably have caused much greater losses,” he said.
Swiss Re says weather is becoming an ever larger driver of catastrophe losses in Europe, and that vehicles make up a growing share of the cost. That trend was visible in the August figures, where car damage made up almost half of the total. A single storm can damage many thousands of cars at once, as happened in Switzerland this summer. Northern Italy saw similar damage after hailstorms in July and August. The reinsurer points to early warning systems and access to covered parking as practical ways to limit losses, since a car moved under a roof in time is a claim that never has to be paid.
Hail is not the only concern. Swiss Re says forest fires, fuelled by extreme heat and long dry spells, are becoming more significant for insurers, with losses from such fires rising by 8 to 11 percent a year over recent decades. The company describes heatwaves as an interconnected risk that reaches into many areas of insurance at once.
Beyond insured property, Swiss Re warns that extreme weather can threaten energy supplies, infrastructure and the wider economy. For Swiss households and businesses, the August storm offers a concrete measure of that risk: a few hours of hail over the central plateau produced a bill running into billions of francs, much of it parked on driveways and streets.
