A July hail storm that ripped up siding and pitted vehicles through Central Alberta and also hit Saskatchewan caused a total $30-million of damage, says the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
That pushes this summer’s severe thunderstorm system — which also caused Environment Canada to issue tornado warnings — into the IBC’s “catastrophic” class of natural disasters since it did more than $25-million of insured damage.
Rob de Pruis, the IBC’s director of consumer and industry relations, said more and more major storms, floods and wildfires have been happening all across Canada since the mid 1980s.
“The losses are increasing… There’s been a rise in severity of these weather events,” whether due to climate change or other conditions, he added.
Although other provinces have also been hard hit, “the Alberta region is a hot-spot for these kind of events,” said de Prius, who noted the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires, the 2013 severe floods, “and a lot of storms in between…
“With the number of events, people have not only lost tens of millions, but in some cases hundreds of millions” of property, he added.
The July 13 and 14, severe wind, rain and hail damaged homes and vehicles in Alix, Stettler, Bowden and Forestburg. Residents reported hail ranging from golf ball to baseball-sized.
Summer storms across the Prairies caused more than $200 million of insured damage so far this year, according to Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. This includes severe thunderstorms that swept from Calgary to Manitoba from Aug. 1 to 3, destroying buildings and vehicles, causing $80-million of damage.
Since May 2017, the IBC reported that weather-related insured damage hit $464 million.
De Pruis believes it’s always prudent for consumers to look into their own property insurance coverage to ensure severe weather events are included.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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