Canadian insurers pay millions in weather damage

For the third time in the last four years, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) reports the estimated insured damage caused by severe weather across Canada has topped $1 billion.

“The largest of the events in 2012 was the wind, flooding and hail storms that battered Calgary and surrounding areas this past August,” says Heather Mack, Director, Government Relations, Alberta with IBC. “An update to insured damages pegs that storm now at more than $500 million.”

Read: How to protect your business during disasters

A number of events hit Ontario. In October, Superstorm Sandy, where rain and winds damaged the U.S. northeast including New York and Atlantic City, hit across Ontario and Quebec and topped $100 million in damages. In May, a weather system that hit Ontario and Quebec resulted in high winds and flooding amounted to $260 million in damages.

Read: Companies postpone earnings due to Sandy

“Insurers are seeing the financial impacts of severe weather first-hand,” says IBC senior vice president of policy and chief economist Gregor Robinson. “Canadians are already witnessing the impact of severe weather in terms of lost lives and injuries, families displaced from their homes, and towns that are devastated.”

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