If Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) has his way, everything is set for quick financial relief after the severe storms. His promise: “We won’t let anyone down.” But first the affected states would have to assess the damage.
“If necessary, we will increase the resources of the disaster fund to help people in the storm areas with reconstruction,” the chancellor announced on Wednesday. The disaster fund is currently filled with “several hundreds of millions of euros” to help “quickly”.
Nehammer also commented on X (formerly Twitter):
“The federal states can also request these funds as advances, so that sufficient money is available for a rapid settlement of the damage,” explains Nehammer. But for that, the damage would have to be registered and quantified – that is a matter for the federal states.
Cleanup efforts show the extent of the destruction
Donau Versicherung expects damage of up to ten million euros in Carinthia. Since June, more than 2,800 damage reports have been received from the federal state, according to a broadcast on Monday. In Styria, the insurance company has registered just over 1,000 claims since the beginning of June. Currently, a damage expenditure of about three million euros is expected in the Groene Mark.
However, the full extent will only become clear once the remediation work has been completed. On the part of the Wiener Städtische, the first estimates for Carinthia and Styria amount to around 20 million euros. And that’s just the information from two insurance companies.
Everything estimated, nothing concrete
The severe storms also caused massive damage to state highways and the rural road network in Carinthia. According to initial estimates, the damage to national roads amounts to 3.4 million euros and that to the national road network to 12 million euros. More than 30 national roads and 146 trails were affected, the office of responsible officer Martin Gruber (ÖVP) said on Tuesday.
Again, it is emphasized that these are only first estimates. And as long as there are no concrete figures, no money can be withdrawn from the disaster fund.
LH Kaiser: “A new era is dawning”
After the devastating storms, there are already demands from the countries that the republic must reposition itself in disaster management. According to provincial governor Peter Kaiser (SPÖ), 18,000 firefighting operations have already been registered in Carinthia, the same number as in the whole of 2021.
The politician also called on the federal government on Monday to increase civil protection funds due to the increasing risk of storms: “The states and municipalities will not be able to do it alone, unfortunately a new era is dawning.”
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
