A new report showing one provincial capital’s aging sewer system cannot handle severe storms caused by climate change is echoing the insurance industry's call for better infrastructure, and better disaster mitigation.
Figures compiled in the report to be studied this Thursday show $2.4 billion will be needed to upgrade sewers in 150 of Edmonton, Alta.’s older neighbourhoods, with the hope that the provincial and federal governments would help cover some of the cost.
Coun. Ben Henderson says intense storms are becoming more frequent - about one every five years - and drainage systems in older areas are at risk because they can't handle the load.
“The question out to the public is, do we step up or do we take the risk that you have a serious flood?” he told the Edmonton Journal. “I think the answer will be self-evident to most people.”
Henderson says the same problem exists across Canada and insurance companies have been aware of it for years.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada says flooding is the leading cause of property damage across the country, costing insurers about $1.7 billion per year.
Jonathan Turner, chief financial officer for Swiss Re Canada, told Insurance Business that there is an urgent need to address disaster mitigation now.
“Given the urgency of the situation and the very real threat to our communities and to society,” says Turner, “now is the time to turn talk into action and implement the National Disaster Mitigation Strategy – before the next big storm, fire or quake.”
Turner points to 2013 as a record-setting year when the country suffered two natural disasters causing more than $1 billion in damages. (continued.)
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“It was also the fifth consecutive year of billion-dollar events,” he says. “Canada is exposed to many different natural disasters with earthquake, winter storm, wildfire and flood being among the most likely to impact our lives and economy. For years we escaped relatively unscathed until last summer's devastating flooding in Alberta and Toronto.”
June and July mark the one year anniversary of these events – the largest insured losses in Canada's history with approximately $3 billion in payments and more than double that in economic losses.
“It's vital that we don't continue to ignore these threats because if we do, we do so at our own peril,” says Turner.
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