Summer storms Cost insurers $200M across prairies
The Prairie Provinces were slammed by severe weather this summer, causing more than $200 million in damage so far to homes, businesses and vehicles.
Numbers released by the Insurance Bureau of Canada and Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. show property owners in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were hit hard by storms between June and August.
Around $80 million in insurance claims were made following a thunderstorm in early August that left one Manitoba man dead.
Hail, high winds and heavy rain hit Calgary on Aug. 1 and stuck around for two days, “causing significant auto and property damage” across the city.
That same storm also spawned a deadly tornado that touched down in Alonsa, Man.
The twister, which Environment Canada classified as an EF-4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, killed a 77-year-old retired school teacher and destroyed buildings and vehicles in its path.
A mid-June storm in Saskatchewan and Manitoba caused around $90 million in insured damage, and another $30 million in claims were made following severe thunderstorms in Alberta and Saskatchewan on July 13 and 14.
The bureau says newer vehicles damaged by hail compound the costs and claims because of “advanced technologies that are far more expensive to repair” compared with older cars and trucks.
Celyeste Power, western vicepresident of the insurance bureau, said these numbers “are only part of the picture,” adding taxpayers end up paying for a portion of uninsured losses through disaster financial assistance programs as severe weather on the Prairies becomes increasingly common.
“We are witnessing more frequent, intense storms and it is urgent that provinces and communities take concrete steps — such as improving land-use planning and changing building codes — to adapt
to severe weather events,” she said in a news release.
Between May and October last year, the bureau says, storms and extreme weather caused more than $260 million in insured damage across the Prairies.
The bureau says Canadians should “be insurance aware” and recommends double checking what policies cover before severe weather again hits the Prairies.
Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. tracks analytical and meteorological data on natural and man-made disasters in Canada.