Canada: Water damage claims surpass fire claims

Changing weather patterns bring about more rain in British Columbia, Canada, and consequently, the cases of flood damage have increased so much, that insurance companies pay half of the claims towards such losses, reports The Vancouver Sun. The Insurance Bureau of Canada is testing a municipal risk assessment tool that is aiming to estimate communities’ vulnerability to flood at a ‘block-by-block level’.

"If people continue to build in really risky areas it will be discouraged one way or another. There will cease to be the incentive to do that as prices continue to rise with heavy precipitation and storms and sea level rise due to climate change," said Deborah Harford, executive director of the Adapt to Climate Change Team at Simon Fraser University. She added that liability has started to become an issue as corporations are expected to prepare for climate change related extreme events. For example, a class-action lawsuit is in progress against the municipality of Thunder Bay, Ont., for allegedly neglecting to design and maintain the city’s storm, water and sewer systems and failing to take climate change into account in their planning.

"The recent heavy rains were a predictable event and should have been designed for and the City failed to maintain the sewage treatment plant and other storm sewer facilities, which resulted in extensive damages for many city residents," stated the Watkins Law Firm.