(TORONTO) The value of insured damage attributed to severe weather events in Canada reached $ 2.4 billion last year, according to a report released Monday by the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC).
Thus, the year 2020 ranks fourth among the highest annual insured losses since 1983, after 2016, 2013 and 1998.
The three most expensive events of 2020 in Canada were in Alberta. First, the hailstorm on June 13 in Calgary which caused insured losses of 1.3 billion, followed in order, at 562 million, by the Fort McMurray flood.
Other phenomena that followed were, in order, the summer storms in central and southern Alberta (221 million) and the thunderstorm and snowstorm that struck southern Alberta on January 10. Ontario and Quebec (98 million) and the November 15 storm in Ontario (88 million).
The IBC reported that for every dollar paid in insurance claims to affected homes and businesses, Canadian governments and taxpayers spend significantly more to repair public infrastructure damaged by severe weather.
The organization regrets that while Canadians are suffering increasing financial losses due to climate change, the Government of Canada does not have a national plan to protect Canadians from floods, fires, windstorms and hail.
Nonetheless, the Insurance Office of Canada welcomes the establishment in 2020 of the Canadian Government of the Working Group on Flood Insurance and the Strategic Resettlement of Residents in High-Risk Areas. Through this task force, insurers will work with governments to ensure all Canadians have affordable flood insurance.
