Weather damages in Canada are mounting — here are the worst on record
Insured damages from natural catastrophes and severe weather in Canada topped $3 billion for the second year in a row.
At $3.1 billion, 2023 was the fourth worst year for insured losses on records going back to 1983, said the Insurance Bureau of Canada this week.
“This grim statistic highlights the financial costs of a changing climate to insurers, governments and taxpayers,” the bureau said in a press release.
“While 2023 was a record-breaking year for wildfires, flooding also continued to cause destruction in nearly every region across Canada.”
Canada is now viewed a riskier place to insure because of the rising losses and revised risk modelling, said the bureau. As a result, numerous Canadians cannot get flood insurance and it is becoming harder for some households to get insurance for earthquakes and other such hazards.
The insurance bureau urged the federal government to move ahead with the national flood insurance program it committed to in last year’s budget.
“The homes and financial health of over 1.5 million Canadians are at high and growing risk,” it said.
Severe weather events caused billions of dollars of damage across the country last year.
The Okanagan and Shuswap wildfires that burned from August to September in British Columbia topped the list. At $720 million in damages, this was the most costly insured damages in the province’s history.
Ontario’s summer storms in July and August was second highest at $340 million.
But 2023 tallies pale in comparison to some years. In 2016, the year of the Fort McMurray, Alta., fire, known as “the beast,” damages reached $5.96 billion.
In 2013, flooding in Alberta and Toronto area and a December ice storm in Canada’s biggest city racked up $3.87 billion in insured
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