The initial tally of the insured damages from a late July storm that hammered southern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan with hail and heavy rain has been tabulated and exceeds the $90 million mark.
According to the Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ), the initial estimate of the damage following the Tuesday, July 30 storm is $91 million, $90 million of which occurred in Alberta.
The storm smashed windshields, dented hoods, and caused significant damage to residences.
The July 30 storm was not the lone weather event to batter the prairies this summer. The severe storms of July 13, 14 and 15 in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba caused $41 million in damage. Damage to Alberta vehicle and property from those storms is estimated at $11 million.
"Western Canada was impacted by several storms this past summer, but these two stand out in terms of the catastrophic losses suffered," said Celyeste Power, vice-president of Western, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). "Severe, unpredictable weather like this is becoming more frequent, resulting in higher costs to homeowners, insurers and governments. Last year, insured damage from severe weather across Canada exceeded $2 billion, the fourth-highest amount of annual losses on record. That alarming trend has continued in 2019, with close to $900 million in insured losses recorded already this year."
The $900 million in damage in 2019 to date significantly trails the $5 billion in insurance losses recorded in 2016 as a result of several storms across the prairies as well as the devastating wildfire near Fort McMurray.
