(Toronto) Four “catastrophic weather events” in the space of four weeks this summer have resulted in a record number of insurance claims, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) said Wednesday.
Thus, floods in various regions of Quebec, floods in Toronto and other regions of southern Ontario, forest fires in Jasper and the hailstorm in Calgary led to approximately 228,000 insurance claims.
For comparison, last year insurers reported receiving 160,000 for the entire year.
Canada’s home, auto and business insurers say they have had the most difficult summer on record for damages from weather events and natural disasters.
According to BAC President and CEO Celyeste Power, these four weather events resulted in “more claims in one summer than insurers have reported for any summer in the last 20 years.”
The BAC says it continues to engage in discussions with provincial and federal governments on ways to improve the climate resilience of communities across the country.
Extreme weather events in 2023 caused more than $3.1 billion in insured losses in Canada and “following these four significant events, 2024 will likely be another costly year,” the IBC said.