Precarious flood situation - high damage amount
The flood situation in Switzerland continues to worsen, with further rainfall forecast for Thursday and Friday. Surface runoff and flooding threaten buildings and infrastructure facilities.
Building insurers recommend that homeowners and residents take measures to protect their basements and garages from flooding in particular. This is because the rain forecast for the coming days will lead to further surface runoff, after all, the soils are already soaked like a sponge.
Switzerland's precarious flood situation in many places also exacerbates the problem. Lake Biel, Lake Thun and Lake Lucerne, for example, are in the highest danger level 5. The level of Lake Lucerne is so high that the lake in the city of Lucerne could soon burst its banks. There is currently a high risk of flooding (level 4) on Lakes Brienz and Zurich, as well as on the Aare below Lake Thun, the Reuss and the Upper Rhine. The current hazardous situation can be viewed at the Federal Office for the Environment (Bafu).
Compared with the extreme floods of 2005, the damage caused so far has been much less severe and the measures taken have made it easier to cope with the situation, the FOEN stresses. Since the 2005 floods, the federal government and the cantons have improved flood protection and invested a total of 4.5 billion Swiss francs. The federal government has expanded and established flood forecasts and warnings, and developed new hazard bases such as the surface runoff map. In addition to eliminating the protection deficits identified at the time on many watercourses, the cantons and municipalities have since improved procedures in the event of an incident and trained specialists and emergency personnel, the Bafu further writes.
GVZ with damages in the millions
Gale-force winds in the canton of Zurich, accompanied in places by hailstorms, again caused millions of dollars worth of damage in the early hours of Tuesday morning, according to Gebäudeversicherung Kanton Zürich (GVZ). The city of Zurich and the regions around Kloten and Winterthur were particularly affected. Together with the storms in the second half of June 2021, the GVZ expects the damage to total around 40 million francs.
According to initial projections, the building insurance company expects a total of 10,000 claims and a loss amount of 25 to 30 million Swiss francs for the events between June 18 and 28, 2021. The hailstorm of June 28 alone resulted in around 3,000 damage reports to the GVZ. They mainly concerned slat blinds and other sun protection systems.
Any damage should be reported to GVZ as soon as possible: Using the online damage form or at www.gvz.ch → Report damage or call the GVZ damage hotline 0800 442 442 (free of charge, 7 days, 24 hours).
Other topics:
- Those who build and renovate plan for natural hazards
- Storm damage in 2020: balance sheet good - protective measures tried and tested
