Severe weather in Hesse: Fire departments were deployed thousands of times

Annual balance sheet - Severe weather in Hesse: Fire departments were deployed thousands of times

Hailstones the size of golf balls, fallen trees, flooded streets: Several severe storms have raged in Hesse this year, resulting in thousands of fire department deployments. By mid-December, 5638 fire department deployments in connection with storm-related incidents had been reported to the fire protection supervisory service of the state of Hesse, the Hessian Ministry of the Interior told the German Press Agency in response to an inquiry.

"In addition, there were a large number of local storm operations in the Hessian municipalities, which were dealt with by the local fire departments and are not subject to an overall statistical survey due to their selective effects," explained a spokesperson for the ministry. There was no case of disaster control in 2023.

The spokesperson explained that Hesse was mainly affected by severe weather fronts with heavy rain and squalls in all parts of the state. The Hessian fire departments had to deal with flooded streets, overflowing cellars, fallen trees and covered roofs. Just last week, storm "Zoltan" caused numerous operations in the Rheingau-Taunus and Main-Kinzig districts, among others. Over the past few rainy days, the water levels of several rivers have come into focus, with flood warning levels being exceeded on the Weser and Lahn, for example.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, such events will occur more frequently in the future. "Special damage situations such as heavy rain and flooding, strong winds and storms, drought and forest fires will continue to increase due to climate-related changes and pose new challenges for alarm and deployment planning, equipment and training for firefighters," explained the spokesperson. Regardless of this, Hessian disaster control is very well positioned and is constantly being evaluated and adapted to current requirements. The state will continue to significantly strengthen disaster control in Hesse and continue the equipment offensive.

Farmers were particularly affected by the capricious weather conditions. "At the time of the onset of the rain and the storms from August this year, many farms in Hesse had not yet finished harvesting their grain," explained a spokeswoman for the Hessian Farmers' Association. "While farms in southern Hesse had already threshed winter barley and winter wheat, as well as spring cereals, farms in central Hesse and especially northern Hesse were affected." Winter wheat and, in some cases, winter barley or spring cereals were still standing in the fields there. The harvest was significantly delayed due to the rainfall.

Regionally, the weather conditions had a significant impact on quality. In some cases, crops were not harvestable. "In northern Hesse, storms with hail meant that there were no grains left on the stalks - a total failure, so to speak." In many places, only feed grain could be harvested, which meant lower income.

To take precautions, farmers could take out multi-risk insurance to cover damage caused by wind, hail or heavy rain, said the spokeswoman. "However, these are also additional costs for the farms that have to be covered." Otherwise, there are agronomic measures such as adapted soil cultivation, crop rotation or variety selection. "However, these are only small adjustments for farms. In general, the focus for many farms has shifted to taking precautions against crop failures due to severe weather."

This is also reported by the Giessen district office of the insurance company "Vereinigte Hagel". As farms are generally unable to cope financially with a second major loss, farmers are now insuring previously uninsured crops such as beet and potatoes, explained a spokesperson. "In addition to hail, storm and heavy rain are also increasingly being insured, especially for maize and rapeseed."

Compared to the past three years, the number of damaged farms, the area affected and the amount of compensation paid in 2023 had risen sharply, he reported. "The so-called loss ratio for the years 2020 to 2022 was on average at a rather low level, i.e. below 70 percent." This year, it amounted to 205 percent. Payouts for insurance claims were therefore more than twice as high as income and were taken from reserves.

In total, around 18,600 hectares were damaged on 6,700 individual fields in Hesse. According to the spokesman, "Vereinigte Hagel" paid out a total of 8.1 million euros in compensation in Hesse alone. Around 50 percent of the arable land is insured with the specialist insurer. The total damage, including the uninsured areas, was therefore twice as high. According to him, the regions of Waldeck-Frankenberg and Kassel in northern Hesse were the worst affected. "In 2023, they suffered the heaviest hail damage for decades. At the same time, storm and heavy rain damage also increased."

Travelers were also affected by the storms - for example at Germany's largest airport, Frankfurt Airport. A Fraport spokesperson explained that a storm in August with heavy rain led to a few flight cancellations. On several days in December, the airport's winter services were on standby due to predicted snowfall and freezing rain. "Aircraft had to be de-iced. Runways and taxiways had to be cleared and were not available during this time." Passengers were informed in good time on the website that there could be delays in operations and flight cancellations. According to the spokesperson, Fraport is not publishing the number of affected passengers and canceled flights.