The BC floods could become the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history.
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Transport Minister Rob Fleming said on Friday that there was no estimate of the overall cost of rebuilding the province, but that it would be “very significant”.
Authorities will have to wait some time before being able to assess the extent of the damage and the bill for future repairs. One thing is certain, road bridges will have to be replaced, sections of railroad redressed and entire communities rebuilt.
“This has a significant economic impact that grows every day these roads are taken,” Kent Fellows, assistant professor of economics in the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, commented to Global News.
A hefty bill for other claims
Currently, the costliest natural disaster in Canada has occurred in Fort McMurray, where wildfires have resulted in insurance claims worth $ 3.7 billion. However, the final cost, including repairs and reconstruction, was almost $ 9 billion.
Meanwhile, the flooding in southern Alberta resulted in insurance claims of $ 1.7 billion, but the actual cost was almost double.
In 1998, ice storms in Quebec and Ontario cost the insurance industry $ 1.3 billion, reports the “Global News” network.
“Between 1983 and 2008, the insurance industry paid, on average, about $ 422 million in weather damage across the country,” reported Rob de Pruis of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
He added that over the past decade that number has grown to an average of $ 2.1 billion across the country. Last year, the country suffered approximately $ 2.4 billion in damage related to major natural disasters.
British Columbians now have access to residential flood coverage by land. According to de Pruis, about half of the residents of the province have added this optional coverage to their policies.
However, about 5% of homeowners would not qualify for coverage due to being in “high risk flood areas”.
Port of Vancouver
The losses caused by flooding in the province extend far beyond critical infrastructure.
According to information from the “Globe and News”, the port of Vancouver, which is essentially cut off from the rest of the country, normally carries around $ 250 to $ 500 million in goods each day.
Mr. Fellows specifies that the paralysis of the port generates losses affecting both exports and imports of international trade as well as interprovincial trade activities.
“It is also Canada’s gateway to the Pacific (…) It also affects some of our trade with the United States, as we conduct a large part of that trade along the west coast of the United States. United States, ”he added.
For his part, BC Premier John Horgan believes the province has the fiscal capacity to rebuild what has been lost.