January cold snap resulted in $180-million of insurance claims in Western Canada
After one extreme weather event in Alberta in the first weeks of 2024, Canadian insurers are expecting “extremely concerning” weather conditions this summer as the province braces for worsening drought and a potentially severe wildfire season.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada already estimates about $180 million in damages were incurred during the mid-January cold snap that hit swaths of Western Canada. The majority of insurable damages came from British Columbians, with Albertans claiming about $30 million between Jan. 12 to 15.
The bulk of those claims were for property damage, specifically burst pipes, during the stretch that saw temperatures near -40 C in Calgary and -50 C in Edmonton.
Alberta homes are built to withstand extreme lows better than its westerly neighbours due to different building codes, said Rob de Pruis, IBC’s national director of consumer and industry relations. B.C. homes may not have the same insulation and heating equipment, he said, making pipes more susceptible to bursting during cold snaps.
The deep freeze was the first major weather event to hit Canada this year, and the IBC expects several more in the approaching months.
Albertans alone claimed $330 million in 2023 due to severe weather, contributing to Canada’s $3.1 billion in weather-related claims — the fourth highest since IBC began collecting data in 1982.
“Last year across Canada, we had more catastrophic insurance events in one particular year than we’ve had any other year in our nation’s history,” de Pruis said.
Insurable claims have been tracking higher for decades, de Pruis said.
According to IBC, Canada’s insurance industry was paying out an average of $450 million each year in the 1980s and 1990s. That number rose to about $675
Read more on financialpost.com
