BERLIN — Damage from the past week's flooding in Germany likely will lead to insurance claims of up to 3 billion euros ($4 billion), a credit rating agency said Tuesday as flood levels on the Elbe river in the country's north appeared to stabilize.
Further south, the peak of the flood on the Danube — Europe's second-longest river — moved away from the Hungarian capital, Budapest, toward Serbia.
The Elbe, the Danube and other rivers have overflowed their banks following weeks of heavy rain, causing extensive damage in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary.
Fitch Ratings said that the total cost to insurers of the floods in Germany alone is likely to total between 2.5 billion and 3 billion euros.
That's well below the expected total cost of the flood damage, which Fitch put at about 12 billion euros. It said the difference is down to the fact that many residents in flood-prone areas may have been unable to get insurance cover for natural hazards, at least at a reasonable price.
There was no immediate estimate available of the flooding's cost in the other central European countries affected.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the governors of the country's 16 states plan to discuss the aftermath of the floods at a meeting Thursday.
Waters were receding on the Danube in southern Germany, while the crest of the swollen Elbe river is now making its way through a largely rural swath of the country's northeast.
