Insurance Blogs hosted by Canadian Underwriter
Insurance Blogs hosted by Canadian Underwriter
Chestermere, Alberta, located due east of Calgary on the TransCanada, was hit with fairly severe overland flooding and sewer backup as the result of not one, but two, recent heavy rainfall events within days of each other. The first, early…
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When it comes to the issue of financially incentivizing homeowners to install mitigation measures to reduce the potential impact of severe weather or an earthquake, it appears that much of the burden is placed squarely on the backs of insurers.…
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A major complaint levelled against the insurance industry is that it has failed to provide coverage for consumers who, through no fault of their own, have seen their homes and belongings destroyed by flood. With the announcement by Co-operators that…
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On May 8, ICLR unveiled its latest home retrofit project, this time in Windsor, Ontario. The home was retrofitted to reduce (we never say eliminate) the risk of basement flooding. Again, ICLR chose Emergency Preparedness Week (May 3 to 9)…
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Once again a big storm was forecast, once again, it failed to materialize (at least for many New Yorkers and New Jerseyans) and once again meteorologists are being criticized for dropping the ball. What’s more, weather models are also being blamed for at least part of the failure and people are, of course, again making the statement “If I was as wrong as often as the weather man, I’d be out of a job.”
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Some are calling 2014 a quiet – even a ‘reprieve’ – year for Canadian catastrophe losses. But when you put the year’s $880+ million up against 2013’s $3.2 billion, of course it will look like a quiet year (even a…
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On December 11, the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) rolled out its latest retrofit home to the media. The home in Burlington, Ontario was retrofitted to reduce the risk of basement flooding. ICLR chose Burlington because it was ground…
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On October 16, the CBC published an online article entitled ‘Severe weather increasing insurance deductibles.’ Just a few days later, a small media outlet reprinted the piece, but changed the headline to ‘Climate change increasing insurance deductibles.’ This change highlights…
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On October 10, ICLR held a Friday Forum workshop entitled ‘National Riverine Floodplain Mapping Framework and Advancements in Urban Overland Flood Risk Assessment’, which largely looked at the state of flood mapping in Canada. The workshop was lead by Tim…
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While groundwater figures prominently in riverine and urban flooding and is relatively easy to map, insurers, urban planners, governments and other key stakeholders seldom factor it in when considering flood risk. So says Dr. Cathy Ryan, a hydrogeologist with the…
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It was raining in Oakville, but it was nothing worth writing home about, just a normal run-of-the-mill summer storm. But as soon as I crossed the boundary into Burlington, that changed. I was quite amazed at the experience: after a…
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As a centre of excellence for basement flood risk reduction, ICLR never advises that just a backwater valve will reduce the risk (indeed, we have 20 tips to reduce basement flooding). Yet Canadian insurers have taken to advising insureds to…
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The scientific evidence is overwhelming that humans are changing the climate due to their unbridled use of fossil fuels. Yet despite the scientific consensus (and, yes, there is consensus), there are those that insist on denying that anthropogenic (i.e. human…
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The EF2 tornado that tore through Angus, Ontario June 17 damaged 102 recently built homes in the small community located just west of Barrie. Ten or 11 homes lost their roofs entirely. These homes will have to be razed and…
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