Damage and repairs could make B.C. floods Canada’s most expensive natural disaster
Global News
British Columbians have access to overland residential flood coverage and de Pruis said about half of the province's residents have added this optional coverage to their policies.
While it will still be some time before B.C. officials can provide preliminary estimates as to how much it will cost to repair the damage from this week’s flooding, it could be the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history.
Highway bridges need to be replaced, sections of rail lines relaid, and entire communities need to be rebuilt, meaning the cost of the flooding is expected to be unprecedented in B.C.’s history.
“There is a significant economic impact of this that grows bigger every day these routes are out,” Kent Fellows, assistant professor of economics and the associate program director of The Canadian Northern Corridor Program at The University of Calgary School of Public Policy, told Global News.
Right now, Canada’s most expensive natural disaster was in Fort McMurray where wildfires resulted in $3.7 billion worth of insurance claims. However, the final cost including repairs and rebuilding was almost $9 billion.
Flooding in southern Alberta saw $1.7 billion in insurance claims, but the true cost was nearly double that.
In 1998, ice storms in Quebec and Ontario cost the insurance industry $1.3 billion.
“Between 1983 and 2008, the insurance industry was paying out, on average, about $422,000,000 of severe weather damage across the country,” Rob de Pruis, director, consumer and industry relations for the Insurance Bureau of Canada said.
He added in the last decade, that number has risen to $2.1 billion, on average across the country. Last year, the country experienced about $2.4 billion in damage related to severe weather events.