Faced with local weather change, municipalities are struggling to make sure | EUROtoday

What occurs when it turns into, in the long run, too dangerous to insure sure territories? The query is acute for a lot of French municipalities uncovered to excessive occasions on account of world warming.

At the idea of the French “administrative millefeuille”, municipalities take out insurance coverage as a way to protect their buildings, their infrastructures, and, past that, to perpetuate their financial attractiveness. But, to the extent that they need to present important public companies (from nurseries to constructing permits), they aren’t insured just like the others. Long confined to the small world of insurers and specialised territorial civil servants, the problem of their insurability has turn out to be a serious political topic.

The soon-to-be unsustainable invoice for pure disasters

The historic floods that occurred in Ille-et-Vilaine, in the beginning of 2025, illustrate the affect of world warming on municipalities. After the Herminia storm, distinctive rainfall accumulations induced main overflows of the Vilaine and the Seiche. “Dikes were bypassed by the flooding and we also discovered areas flooded by rising sewer water”explains Cyrille Morel, deputy mayor of Rennes, and delegate for civil safety and danger prevention.

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