Severe summer weather cost $7 billion in most destructive season on record

A woman dumps drywall damaged by flood waters next to a house in Louiseville, Que., Thursday, August 15, 2024, following a storm that dumped up to 175 millimetres of rain across the province. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

TORONTO -

The Insurance Bureau of Canada says summer of 2024 is now Canada's most destructive season on record for insured losses due to severe weather events.

The bureau estimates the damages for a group of storms and wildfires at a combined $7 billion in insured losses, topping the $6.2 billion cost of the Fort McMurray, Alta., wildfire in 2016.

That's 10 times higher than the average $701 million a year for severe weather losses between 2001 and 2010.

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IBC president Celyeste Power says wildfire in Jasper, Alta., flooding in southern Ontario and Quebec, and an Alberta hailstorm resulted in about 228,000 insurance claims, which is up 406 per cent compared with a two-decade average.

The agency is asking provincial and federal governments to respond to climate change as a crisis and collaborate in reducing disaster risk.

The bureau says severe weather in 2023 caused more than $3.1 billion in insured damage across Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2024.