Hail and lightning: Ticino is the most affected canton

Ticino is the Swiss canton most exposed to hail and lightning. This emerges from an analysis by the insurer AXA of the damage recorded over the past decade.

For hail, the canton ranks at the top alongside Jura, Neuchâtel, Bern and Nidwalden. The hailstorm of 9 June 2026 weighed particularly heavily on the Ticino balance sheet. Most of the cost concerns vehicles, which are more exposed than buildings. At the other end are Geneva, Thurgau and Schaffhausen, where hail damage remains limited.

The sharpest gap concerns lightning. According to AXA, claims in Ticino are eight times higher than in the rest of the country. Compared with Basel-Landschaft, Vaud and Geneva, the risk is more than twenty times greater.

The insurer offers a geographical explanation. Warm, humid air from the Mediterranean meets the Alpine barrier and encourages the formation of heavily electrified storms.

Floods and the year's balance

For flooding, the ranking changes. Over the decade, the highest damage per insured household was recorded in Schwyz, followed by Solothurn, Lucerne, Schaffhausen and Aargau.

In the first half of 2026, AXA counted around 11,000 weather-related claims. That figure matches the long-term average, despite the perception of a difficult season.

The historical record shows wide swings. Over the past thirty years the insurer has paid out an average of 115 million francs a year for natural events. 2025 closed at 72 million, while 2021 and 2023 reached 291 and 240 million respectively.

These figures concern a single insurer rather than the market as a whole. They should therefore be read as an indication of a trend, not as a complete measure of the damage suffered across the country.

For Ticino, the lightning ranking has practical consequences. It affects the protection of buildings, electrical installations and equipment, in a canton where summer storms are frequent.