The year 2023 was the third most costly year for natural damage for the insurance companies, the bill came to just over SEK 1.6 billion.
One who received insurance money is Kristina Renemar Egebrink, after her basement was flooded.
– We had to throw everything away, says Kristina Renemar Egebrink.
Kristina Renemar Egebrink lives in Heby in Uppland and her basement flooded at the beginning of September last year, after a heavy rainstorm. She says that the water reached 45 centimeters from the floor and all the family’s belongings had ended up below the surface.
Everything had to be thrown away, except for a pool table and a one-armed bandit.
– The furniture itself and it wasn’t that hard to throw away, but it was hard to throw away the boy’s books from school, his grades, my father’s old things and all the photos. Then it was really tough, says Kristina Renemar Egebrink.
Today, the basement is almost completely renovated and her family has started wallpapering the walls again. But she still says that the period since the flood has been stressful and that missing part of the house has been more stressful than she thought.
The insurance companies pay the price
In Kristina’s case, the insurance company has covered all costs for the renovation of the basement. And precisely the costs of natural damage have increased for the insurance companies. This is shown by figures from Swedish Insurance. In 2023, the bill landed at 1.6 billion kroner, and in ten years the natural damage has gone from being between 300 and 400 million kroner per year to around 1 billion per year.
Staffan Moberg is a lawyer at Swedish Insurance and believes that the costs will continue to increase.
– After all, we have climate changes that are not being stopped but are increasing. It will drive us to get worse and more frequent effects. In the near term, we will mainly see floods, says Staffan Moberg.
The customer must prevent
Staffan Moberg also says that it is important to adapt society to the climate and that in the future it may be difficult to insure the areas that repeatedly flood. He also believes that as a customer you should try to ensure that you have taken the measures you can to prevent water from entering the property.
– You can, for example, see that the roofs are intact, that it does not flow in through walls, but also how the property is located in the terrain. If water flows down a slope towards the property, you should, for example, do something diverting or set up a protection in case a lot of water comes.