Damage claims are highest in nine years
Insurance companies still counting the cost
Last week’s storm left wreckage in its path. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi
Damage caused by last week’s floods will result in the largest insurance payout in almost a decade, according to three leading insurers.
Insurance companies were still counting the cost yesterday as claims on damaged cars, houses, businesses and yachts were still pouring in one week after the storm of September 3.
Matthew von Brockdorff, deputy managing director at Atlas Insurance, said his company had received claims to the value of €1 million.
Atlas received 45 claims valued at €200,000 for damaged cars and 185 claims valued at €800,000 for damage caused to property, commercial outlets and yachts.
“The number of claims and their cost is the largest since 2003 but it is still a long shot from that event,” Mr Brockdorff said.
A six-hour-long storm on September 15, 2003 caused widespread damage and led to a record €14 million worth of insurance payouts.
Malta had also tapped emergency EU funds at the time, after the European Commission classified the event as “a major disaster” and awarded a grant of almost €1 million.
Mr Brockdorff, who is also president of the Malta Insurance Association, an umbrella group for insurance firms, said it was too early to come up with a global sum for damage claims handled by all insurance companies.
Patrick Muscat, chief claims officer at Middlesea Insurance, said his company had received some 50 claims for damaged cars and another 300 claims related to house and business insurances.
“It is still too early to assess the damage in monetary terms but, while individual claims seem to be much higher than those received in 2003, the value is likely to be much smaller,” Mr Muscat said.
Julian Mamo, a director at insurance firm Gasan Mamo, said storm damage was “not as bad as expected” but would still represent the largest storm claim since 2003.
He declined to put a value on the expected insurance payout but added the company was still receiving claims.
“Residences, small businesses and a large number of cars were affected by the storm,” Mr Mamo said.
He noted that the infrastructural works done after 2003 to tackle the flood-prone areas in Marsa and Qormi helped reduce the problems caused by the flash floods.
According to Mr Brockdorff regular road maintenance helped mitigate the problems but houses were less prepared.
“The storm hit early this year and most property claims were a result of lack of home maintenance after the summer months,” he said, adding that things were made worse by the high winds that lashed out during the storm.
He also had a cautionary word for property and business owners who were not covered by an insurance policy and whose damage will be very difficult to assess.
“Despite the high cost to us, such events help to highlight the importance of having insurance because it is at times like this that it comes in handy.”
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Pule' Carmel
Sep 11th 2012, 17:10
If the mortar in those skewed arches is not filled in properly, the arches will feel the consequences.
There is not much " mastrijja" in those arches as much as " Il Mastrijja" that is included in the historic skewed arch at Qormi not far from the Lownbroau brewery. The old arch is smooth even throughout the upper part of the roof and not like those in the photograph with stepped arches to make the skew.
The same with the Vittoriosa ne entry arch. Il- Kurdun tas-sur, xi perit gharef ma includiehx fil parti ta fuq tal- arkata. The continuity has been broken but then Modern Architects do not care for such subtle detail in artistic and historic content in design. Stupid really as il Kurdun tas -swar has a real meaning for the defence characteristic of the bastion . Dam stuid I say, Many architects in Malta think they can design anything from Flood water channels to Bastions without knowing neither fluid dynamics not history !!
Pule' Carmel
Sep 11th 2012, 17:00
If insurances had to give me 200,000 Euros, and the Government accepts my decision to modify the Millenia Juntion Under Aldo Moro Road and under ALbert town Bridge, the bullnoses and the sewer drainage structure before entry, the insurance itself will save a lot more money.
Since sept 2003 the authorites heeded my advice and put galvanised steel plates between the 48 columns to make three continuous walls rather than columns, under Aldo Moro Road and also took off the Sewer Drain cover stone obstruction built right in the hole before Millenia, Qormi did not flood too much.
If they take off the S bend in front of the galleries or make three defelctors, before Aldo Moro Road and also Make the 12 columnis under Albert Town Bridge as continuous walls, the flow will be much better. As it is the outer third and fouth galleries under Aldo Moro Road due to bad design , circulate water between them and do not translate it to Menqa.
Incidentally towards upper Qormi, there is a lot of cup/ like depressions made due to the building of walls and new buldings and so on . These cup/plate like depressions with building in them, that get filled first and act as buffer reservoirs . And even if the main channel at Qormi is clear, these cup like depressions or pseudo buffer reservoirs with buiildings in then , will get flooded first before they feed into the main channel. Near Farrugia Bridge is one such locality
I do believe that if the Insurances company will invest in the bettering of the floodwater channel , they will make better profits.
Incidentally I would get rid of those Vertical bullnoses and make slanting ones as if the Qasab get foulded in them, as the water rises there is a possiblility that the Debris will float with the rise of the water leaving the undernest clear. As it is with the vertical bullnoses the weight of the debris on a vertical bullnose will lock the lower debris in situ and build up on it till the whole aperture is blocked. I would not mind experimenting withthe design of bullnoses with debris filled water. It is easy to design bullnoses with clear water circulatinf around them , but bullnoses with debris like Qasab and fridges and Twiebet and gas cylinders is rather difficult to design. Same on those people who leave their cars in low grounds when it starts raining in September.
Pule' Carmel
Sep 11th 2012, 16:51
If insurances had to give me 200,000 Euros, and the Government accepts my decision to modify the Millenia Juntion Under Aldo Moro Road and under ALbert town Bridge, the bullnoses and the sewer drainage structure before entry, the insurance itself will save a lot more money.
Since sept 2003 the authorites heeded my advice and put galvanised steel plates between the 48 columns to make three continuous walls rather than columns, under Aldo Moro Road and also took off the Sewer Drain cover stone obstruction built right in the hole before Millenia, Qormi did not flood too much.
If they take off the S bend in front of the galleries or make three defelctors, before Aldo Moro Road and also Make the 12 columnis under Albert Town Bridge as continuous walls, the flow will be much better. As it is the outer third and fouth galleries under Aldo Moro Road due to bad design , circulate water between them and do not translate it to Menqa.
Incidentally towards upper Qormi, there is a lot of cup/ like depressions made due to the building of walls and new buldings and so on . These cup/plate like depressions with building in them, that get filled first and act as buffer reservoirs . And even if the main channel at Qormi is clear, these cup like depressions or pseudo buffer reservoirs with buiildings in then , will get flooded first before they feed into the main channel. Near Farrugia Bridge is one such locality
I do believe that if the Insurances company will invest in the bettering of the floodwater channel , they will make better profits.
Incidentally I would get rid of those Vertical bullnoses and make slanting ones as if the Qasab get foulded in them, as the water rises there is a possiblility that the Debris will float with the rise of the water leaving the undernest clear. As it is with the vertical bullnoses the weight of the debris on a vertical bullnose will lock the lower debris in situ and build up on it till the whole aperture is blocked. I would not mind experimenting withthe design of bullnoses with debris filled water. It is easy to design bullnoses with clear water circulatinf around them , but bullnoses with debris like Qasab and fridges and Twiebet and gas cylinders is rather difficult to design. Same on those people who leave their cars in low grounds when it starts raining in September.
A M Bonello
Sep 11th 2012, 13:43
Watch Insurance premiums/charges go up up and up up up!!!!!!!!
wayne scicluna
Sep 11th 2012, 13:18
No tears shed from my part. These insurance companies have been like blood sucking vampires who leech hard earned cash "just in case" something happens. For how many years have we paid our premiums whitout a single claim? 400 euro a year for a motorcycle? Refusing to insure because some people apparently do not meet their standards or have a high powered vehicle? Poetic justice is what I call what is happening now.
Kenneth Williams
Sep 11th 2012, 12:37
L ahwa lestu ruhkhom ghax issa toghla XI NAQRA l insurance........bhal li kieku huma johorguhom il flus mhux kollox ahna nhallsu
J Farrugia
Sep 11th 2012, 11:50
What i would like to know is how many of those claims will you reject due to some miniscule writing at the bottom of the page which gets you out of all scenario's.
Insurance together with the pharmacutical industry are the biggest scammers on earth.
Peter Murray
Sep 11th 2012, 10:24
FAO John J.Borg
.
You intimate that the 5000 euros saved was not invested as in "you wish you had invested it" claim .Where do you think this money was located then -under the mattress?
Ian Vella
Sep 11th 2012, 10:18
I do not care if the insurance companies are going to fork out lots of payments. Do they ever worry when they increase the premium? Or when they insist on not paying out a claim? or when they insist on not insuring someone because he is ‘uninsurable’? Do you remember a couple of months back when an insurance company froze the bank accounts of one individual who actually had absolutely nothing to do with that particular case?
Why are the insurance companies complaining? Are they preparing a collective case to ask for funds from the government perhaps? Everyone pays insurance companies and you never read articles about that, so I really cannot understand all the fuss.
I will not be loosing any sleep or shedding any tears for the insurance companies for sure, I actually only pity the people who suffered damages and were not fully insured.
I only hope they are not creating all this media frenzy to use it as an excuse to increase the premiums next year, I hope the authorities regulates this issue and keeps an eye on this matter.
Tony Borg
Sep 11th 2012, 10:50
Very well said Ian and in Malta brokers and insurance alike introduce different rules to our market that in other countries are unheard of.
A case in point is when loosing Electronic equipment...........in other countries they just replace whereas in Malta they will depreciate and give you a fraction of what was worth before.
Pablo Mallia
Sep 11th 2012, 10:52
Well said Ian, They have been insuring they profits for years and years, Xi darba imiss lill Papa! After all what is an insurance for? If each one of us opens his own account and call it insurance, places the premium in this account, most likely we would end up with a positive balance in our account.
Joseph Micallef
Sep 11th 2012, 11:27
Perfectly said... who cares about how much money they need to fork out. I pay the premium and if something goes wrong, they have to fork out money - full stop.
j dough
Sep 11th 2012, 11:42
well said.
V. Cauchi
Sep 11th 2012, 10:07
Would be best to brace up for the next bout of bad weather expected some time between Thursday and Sunday given the warm waters still surrounding Malta. There is no putting our mind at rest that we already had our first storm, and that usually it is the strongest one, for as things stand the conditions will be the same through November as if we will always be having the first storm of the season all over again. I wonder whether some public advice on what individuals at least (if not government itself) can do to protect themselves and decrease storm damage. And that would be a good election ploy!
Martin Xuereb
Sep 11th 2012, 09:39
For me it was a win my friend as they changed me the engine of a 4 year old Bmw.Probably costed over 8K
It is obvious that there is more damage as in 9 years the poplulation has increased including buildings .We need a better infrastructure and irrigation system something professional not just the come and go...issa naraw thing! Bunch of amateurs !
Anthony Arpa
Sep 11th 2012, 09:38
Qed tarw Hbieb li kif najd jien li "CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME"
Ha naraw issa min se jejna lilna ... Ghara il Maltin meta jigri xi haga f'xi pajjiez barrani kemm ikunu pronti jejnu ... L-Aqwa li jajdu kemm huma Generuzi il Maltin ...
joseph oliva
Sep 11th 2012, 11:40
hekk uuu!! ili najda din jien! imma il malti jew bahnan jew irrid jilghba tal qaddis iktar mil papa
M. Attard
Sep 11th 2012, 09:31
instead of paying an insurance, you can set aside certain amount of money to use in case of damages. For example if you put away 500 euros each year then once in for example once in 10 years you need to fix some things, you would have 5000 euros. Remember that insurance wont insure you once you claim a certain amount from them as they would classify you as high risk.
Peter Murray
Sep 11th 2012, 09:43
Or else an insurer will demand an exorbitant premium.In any event -excellent suggestion sir!
Gordon Galea
Sep 11th 2012, 09:45
That's called saving - what would you do with a mere 5K in case of flooding, fire etc? It won't be enough to replace the kitchen.
Mr Tony Gatt
Sep 11th 2012, 09:46
But car insurance is compulsory in Malta, surely?
John J Borg
Sep 11th 2012, 10:10
the system works only when settling small claims!......if a house collapses damaging the 2 neighbors houses......then you wish you had invested those 5000.....
Peter Murray
Sep 11th 2012, 09:24
Dont shed any tears for the Insurer's as they will merely drammatically raise their insurance policy premiums to recoup any losses as ,in any event ,they associate less profits with a loss-yet they always record profits!So whilst its a win-win situation for the Insurer's- it is LOSE-LOSE situation for their clients.
Mr Tony Gatt
Sep 11th 2012, 09:48
It was ever thus- insurance companies are not charities- they are there to make money.
Joseph E Briffa
Sep 11th 2012, 10:07
@Peter Murray...I suggest you do some reading about insurance before you comment.
Peter Murray
Sep 11th 2012, 10:15
Who ever suggested that insurance companies are philanthropic organisations and making money is one thing-profiteering and racketeering out of other peoples misfortune is an entirely different matter and car insurance is compulsory in most countries but have ever had the misfortune to effect a claim?I say misfortune as the insurer puts every obstacle in your way and then offers the claimant a derisory sum as compensation and you have to fight relentlessly to get remotely anywhere near the figure you thought you were insured for.
Peter Murray
Sep 11th 2012, 10:19
Dear Mr Joseph.E.Briiffa ,
Can you kindly elaborate on your suggestion by providing some definitive information as to what reading matter I should research about insurance ? As seemingly you command some expertise in this field-or think you do as none is forthcoming?
E Schembri
Sep 11th 2012, 12:25
Peter is right.
Insurance companies do more than just make money. Just take a look at their profits. It's more of an exploitation rather than a service.
Please choose the reason of your report below: