Storms hit German insurers hard in 2013

Reuters: Summer floods and hailstorms will cost the German insurance industry almost 7 billion euros ($9.7 billion) for 2013, the biggest bill for damages the industry has faced in more than a decade, an industry report showed on Thursday.

German insurance trade body GDV said it expects weather-related catastrophes to intensify in the coming decades, with flood frequency doubling and storm-related damages increasing by half by 2100. "The accumulation of extreme weather of different types within a few months turned 2013 into an extraordinary year," said GDV head Alexander Erdland in a media release....