By Canadian Press

Insured damage from severe weather exceeded $3.1B in 2023: insurance bureau

Jan 8, 2024 | 11:02 AM

OTTAWA — Severe weather and natural disasters caused more than $3 billion in insured damages for the second year in a row in 2023.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada’s annual tally is topped by wildfires in the Okanagan and Shuswap areas of B.C., which cost $720 million.

Other notable events included severe summer storms in Ontario, at $340 million, and a spring ice storm in April that caused power outages and left two people dead in Ontario and Quebec, costing $330 million.

Summer hailstorms in Winnipeg and Calgary combined to cause more than $250 million in damages.

On the East Coast, a wildfire that ripped through a Halifax suburb in May and June and floods in late July both made the list.

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That places 2023 fourth on the bureau’s list of most expensive weather years — a list that is still topped by the devastating wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta. in 2016.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press