Peterborough, Ontario — The repair bill from the May 21 derecho storm that swept through Quebec and Ontario is in the process of being tabulated, but the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is already confident in declaring the storm to be the sixth most costly insured loss event in Canadian history.
Initial estimates from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ) put the current cost of insured damages following the late-May storm at $875 million, just shy of the $1 billion losses incurred during the floods in Toronto in 2013.
As it stands, Ontario took the brunt of the damage from the storm, leaving the province with $720 million in damage, compared to the still substantial $155 million in damages dealt to Quebec.
More importantly, the storm claimed the lives of 11 Canadians.
“As we begin to contemplate the enormity of the financial losses, we must pause for a moment in the face of the loss of life,” said IBC’s v-p for Ontario, Kim Donaldson.
“This was largely an insurable event and insurers have been on the ground since day one, working hard to help their customers throughout the entire claims process. And, insurers will be there until all claims from their policyholders have been processed.”
Andrew Bartucci, IBC’s director of external communications, said the organization cannot yet share estimates for automotive-related damages, but “can say that there were tens of thousands of personal property, commercial and auto insurance claims.”
Bartucci did tell Collision Repair over email that approximately 20 percent of the claims received following the storm were auto-related.
Check out the video below taken by a Collision Repair staff member in Peterborough, Ont. during the storm.
