Drought damage in Europe comparable to water damage: report

Canadian insurers are coming to terms with water damage, but a joint report by Lloyd’s of London and Swiss Re is warning about a new kind of risk arising from climate change – subsidence.
Subsidence is the downward shifting or settling of soil that can happen as a result of drought. It is now the costliest natural hazard in some parts of Europe, comparable to serious flooding, Swiss Re notes about the report’s findings.
The report is entitled, The hidden risks of climate change: an increase in property damage from soil subsidence.
“Climate change is likely to cause hotter, sunnier weather with more erratic rainfall, resulting in more droughts, which will increase the risk of subsidence,” Lloyd’s notes in an online post about the report. “A prolonged heatwave may bake the ground, creating fissures that can tear apart the foundations of houses, buildings and factories.”
In France, Swiss Re notes, subsidence-related claims have risen by more than 50% in the past 20 years, costing the affected regions 340 million euros [approximately Cdn$477.5 million] each year on average.
Swiss Re and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (known as ETH Europe) have developed a new model to estimate future risks reliably and calculate expected losses from soil subsidence across Europe.