Two storms that raced across the Netherlands in January resulted in significant expenses for insurance agency Achmea.
According to the Leeuwarder Courant, Achmea, the company behind Interpolis, Centraal Beheer, FBTI and Avéro, among others, expects to pay out 100 million euros to victims of storm damage. That amount does not include the costs incurred in the agriculture sector. The first storm occurred on 3 January and caused widespread damage in the provinces of Friesland, North Holland and Flevoland. A second storm on 18 January was one of the ten strongest storms in the past 50 years and wreaked havoc in the central provinces with force 11 winds on the Beaufort scale.
Storm damage
Achmea received approximately 62,000 damage claims from across the Netherlands due to the storms, nearly half of which were filed online. The most common claims were for roof tiles that had blown away and downed trees. According to chairman of the board Willem van Duinen, extreme weather due to climate change is becoming increasingly common and the Netherlands needs to adapt to the changes.
