ZURICH/BERLIN, Aug 9 (Reuters) – Authorities failed to grasp the scale of risk to human life posed by heatwaves, the CEO of reinsurer Swiss Re was quoted as saying on Sunday, as some German states eased trucking restrictions to lower weather-related pressure on shipping.
Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, has reported thousands of excess deaths during a record-breaking heatwave, most of them people aged 65 and above. France and Spain have faced particularly high temperatures in recent weeks.
The heat has also reduced water levels on major rivers, hindering shipping, which prompted several German states to temporarily suspend some curbs on truck traffic this weekend.
“The risk of heatwaves and the associated fatalities was underestimated,” Swiss Re CEO Andreas Berger told Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag, adding: “We need to raise awareness of the dangers arising from this.”
Berger, who was speaking after Swiss Re reported a 9% increase in net profit for the first half of 2026, said it was too early to say definitively how the excess mortality would affect the Zurich-based company’s figures.
The Robert Koch Institute for public health estimated there had been about 11,900 heat-related deaths in Germany this year by late July, mostly due to extreme temperatures in late June.
Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland loosened trucking curbs on Sunday to ease transport bottlenecks caused by water levels on rivers including the Rhine.
“Low water levels are putting a strain on supply chains. That’s why we’re taking action and creating additional transport options by road at short notice,” said Rhineland-Palatinate’s state secretary for transport, Markus Wolf.
The looser curbs on truck traffic on Sundays and holidays will apply until the end of August and could stay in place in some states through September, authorities said.
(Writing by Dave Graham; Additional reporting by Holger Hansen in Berlin; Editing by Alexander Smith)
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