Stat of the week: Where heavy rains are most common

Meteorologists recorded 25,269 heavy rain events in the period from 2002 to 2021. Heavy rain events are defined as continuous rain between one and nine hours with rainfall of more than 15 liters per square meter. As the graphic shows, which was created in cooperation with Statista and MIT Technology Review, southern Germany is particularly affected by heavy precipitation. 6,795 heavy rains occurred in Bavaria, in Baden-Württemberg there was the second most frequent with about 3,593. The fewest extreme rainfall events were recorded in the city-states, simply because of their small size. Among the non-city states, the states in the north are least affected – with Lower Saxony being an exception.

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(Image: Statista)

Natural disasters like in the Ahr Valley

These extreme weather conditions are also reflected in the insurance industry. The General Association of Insurers (GDV) has published the heavy rain balance for 2002 to 2021. Overall, the GDV puts the damage to residential buildings during this period at around 12.6 billion euros. The storm surge “Bernd”, which devastated the Ahr Valley in July 2021, is particularly important. This natural catastrophe was not only fatal for the residents of the region, but also resulted in claims expenditure of around 8.5 billion euros for property and motor insurance alone. At that time, a greater amount of rain was measured on average on just one day than in the previous 30 years.

(Bild:

shutterstock/3dmask

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The year 2023 was also very rainy in Germany. Except for the very dry months of February, May and June, the average monthly amount of precipitation was well above the long-term mean of the reference period 1961-1990. According to data from the German weather service, March and July in particular were wet above average.

(jl)

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