Hail claims ride out storms

REGINA — Despite several storms over the last week, hail insurance claims in Saskatchewan are not unusually large — at least not so far this year.

To the end of June, hail claims presented to SGI were only one-third of those in the same period in 2012, when several large storms had caused plenty of damage.

Over the last week, there were some claims from the Weyburn and Estevan areas, which saw storms roll through their regions, but the number of claims was, “pretty par- for- the-course for a storm with hail,” SGI spokeswoman Kim Hambleton said Wednesday.

She cautioned, though, that some hail damage — like minor car dents caused by hail — can initially be hard to discern and it might take a few days or weeks before owners notice them and go to insurers.

In the crop insurance business, things are similarly low-key.

Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. spokesman Darby Warner said the provincial Crown corporation doesn’t provide “small-loss coverage” but instead looks at the yield and production of a crop on a single farm over a growing season.

For example, if you had four quarters of canola, crop insurance would wait until harvest, then average their yield in order to see if it was above or below your average, he said.

It does this because as devastating as a hailstorm might be in the hours and days after it occurs, some crops “have an amazing ability to recover from something like that”.

Looking across the province this summer, Warner said, “I think we have quite a good crop coming, generally speaking,” adding there are areas that have been impacted not by hail, but by heavy rain.

“Rain has definitely been one thing in the past year that has caused more damage.”

Weighing everything, he said SCIC figures “for the most part, our crops are in pretty good condition now.”