Baden-Baden delegates buoyant despite flood

BADEN-BADEN - Reinsurers and insurers gathering in Baden-Baden for the annual reinsurance week of negotiations over renewals got a first hand experience of a major loss yesterday. The river Oos, flowing through the quiet spa town, rose from its normal 30m water level, flooding part of the city centre. The garage of the hotel Badischer Hof filled up, leaving some 70 cars badly damaged. "But the meeting is continuing normally," Dr Axel Biagosch of organising insurer Axa Colonia told Insurance Day yesterday from his suite in Brenner's Park-Hotel. "The industry is highly disciplined and conditions are quite normal here."