CRED Crunch, Issue no. 64, September 2021: Extreme weather events in Europe

This year and particularly last summer, Europe was affected by extreme weather events, unexpected in terms of their impact. First, July was marked by dramatic floods in Germany and Belgium, killing over 200 persons, making this the deadliest event for either country this year so far, while affecting thousands of others and costing over 20 billion US$. In addition, at least ten wildfires have destroyed hundreds of thousands of hectares, particularly in Greece, France, Spain, and in some Balkans countries, while the area affected by wildfires in Siberia (Russia) reaches over 17 million hectares. These wildfires were caused by extreme drought and heat (one of the worst in decades for the Mediterranean region), reaching temperature of over 45 °C, leading to burnt properties and leaving a disastrous landscape.

This documents covers

• Disasters by type, over time and by location;
• Disaster deaths;
• Total economic losses; and
• Total affected.