A survey carried out by the polling firm YouGov on behalf of insurer Axa shows that many homes appear poorly prepared for extreme weather events, even as climate change causes floods to become more frequent. The information comes from a report by the Spiegel. The survey included 2,005 German participants, of whom 991 were property owners.
Most basements were found to have open window grilles. Only about a third of the surveyed owners had installed lockable basement windows, which could help stop water from entering during heavy rain. Back‑flow valves, designed to keep sewage from seeping back into the building through the sewer system, were installed by just 18 % of respondents. Protective walls and mobile barriers were even less common.
Marc Zimmermann, head of property insurance at Axa Germany, noted that too many houses allow water to flow freely into basements. He said that many of the resulting damages could be avoided with relatively simple measures.
