Alberta fires push Canada’s insurable damage to record $4.9 billion in 2016: IBC
Posted Jan 6, 2017 9:02 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO – The Insurance Bureau of Canada says last year set a record for insurable damage, estimated at more than $4.9 billion.
The industry group says that’s $1.7 billion higher than the previous full-year record set in 2013, when insurable damage totalled $3.2 billion.
Canada’s most costly disaster last year, according to the Insurance Bureau, was the Alberta wildfires that forced the evacuation of Fort McMurray, Alta., and surrounding areas.
The Insurance Bureau says the wildfires resulted in about $3.7 billion in insured damage, making it twice as expensive as the previous most expensive natural disaster on record.
Insurance Bureau president Don Forgeron says the industry is calling on governments to implement policies that prepare Canadian communities for more severe weather due to global climate change.
