Storm Xavier to cost German insurers up to €200m

Storm Xavier will cost German insurers around €150 million and €200 million, according to German consultancy firm Meyerthole Siems Kohlruss (MSK).

Xavier brought gale force winds of more than 100km per hour and rain across northern Germany on Oct. 5, triggering Category 3 storm warnings for much of northern and eastern Germany.

The storm also hit the capital Berlin. In the city of Wilhelmshafen Xavier toppled a crane causing damage of several million euros.

“Autumn storms before mid-October happened only a few times in the last 50 years,” said MSK CEO Onnen Siems.

Because the trees in Germany have yet to lose their leafs, the storm did not only brake branches but uprooted whole trees, Siems explained.