One year after 2024’s record setting summer of insured losses, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) has published a claims update, entitled 2024 Summer of Catastrophe across Canada.
In it, the IBC notes that last year was the worst year for insured losses caused by severe weather in the country’s history. “A five-week stretch over the summer months was especially devastating, with floods, wildfires and hailstorms resulting in approximately 250,000 insurance claims and over $8-billion in insured losses.
For the whole year in 2024, estimates from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) put total insured losses over $9.2-billion. They say this shatters the previous annual record of $6-billion, set in 2016. The volume of claims from the 2024 events represented a 443 per cent increase over the 20-year average.
The report notes that, except in Jasper, the majority of claims have been closed.
- In Toronto, 92 per cent of claims resulting from the July 16 flash flooding in the city and Southern Ontario have been closed.
- In Calgary, 86 per cent of claims resulting from the August 5 hailstorm, are closed.
- In Eastern Canada and Southern Quebec, 96 per cent of Hurricane Debby claims resulting from massive flooding in August 2024 are closed.
- Just 56 per cent of Jasper wildfire claims have been closed. The IBC notes that this is comparable to other large wildfire events in Canada at the one-year mark.
The report also takes a consumer-oriented look at factors that impact claims resolution and at inflated costs in building construction.
