The flooding that occurred in Windsor and Tecumseh caused so much damage that it made into a list of this year’s most costly Canadian insurance catastrophes, edging out the tornadoes that hit Windsor and LaSalle in August.
Catastrophe, Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ), who prepared the list for the
Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), said that the insured losses following the Windsor-Tecumseh flooding will certainly exceed $25 million. In comparison, the Windsor-LaSalle tornado event was so well-prepared for that there will be a negligible to no impact on future policy rates. Disasters that made the list were those that cost insurers under $25 million but above $10 million.
“Insurers are well-capitalized for these types of events — it’s what we’re here for,” Steve Kee of the IBC told
Windsor Star.
CatIQ managing director Carolyn Rennie said that tornadoes were not considered a “reportable event” under the catastrophe list’s criterion.
The fire that erupted last spring in Fort McMurray set a new single-event record for insurable losses. Kee said that insurers ended up paying up to $3.58 billion for the fires’ damages.
Until the Fort McMurray fire, weather catastrophes with the biggest impact to the insurance industry were mostly floods that took place in urbanized centers such as Calgary and Toronto, noted Rennie.
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