Hailstorm that hit Calgary this summer now second costliest natural disaster in Canadian history
According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), the massive hailstorm that tore through Calgary in early August is now the second-costliest insured natural disaster in Canadian history.
Hail, some the size of hen eggs, tore through northern portions of the city, with reports collected of “widespread severe siding damage, multiple broken windows on each street, multiple car windshields smashed, widespread roof damage.”
By the end of the storm, almost one in five homes in Calgary had been impacted, and the IBC says it resulted in nearly $2.8 billion in insured losses, according to initial estimates from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ).
This hailstorm is the second-costliest event in Canada’s history, following the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire. Four of the top five costliest natural disasters in Canadian history occurred in Alberta, including a hailstorm in 2020 that caused $1.3 billion in damages, which now ranks fifth.
Another hailstorm struck the Calgary area in 2021, which caused $700 million in insured damage, respectively.
The storm was so severe it damaged more than a dozen WestJet planes at the Calgary International Airport, requiring them to be repaired and inspected before they could be returned to service.
It added that with the aircraft removed from service, there will be a corresponding decrease in capacity, inevitably resulting in cancellations across its network.
It’s been a costly year for natural disasters in Alberta. This summer, a wildfire that tore through the town of Jasper and destroyed more than 350 buildings caused nearly $900 million in insured damage, according to the IBC.
That blaze had ranked as the ninth costliest natural disaster in Canadian history, but with the addition of the August Calgary hailstorm, it is now 10th.
The IBC added in its release that severe weather has cost insurers over $3.6 billion in Alberta this summer alone, more than all the insured damage from natural catastrophes and severe weather events across Canada in 2023, which tallied $3.1 billion.
The IBC stated it only reports on the insured damage caused by each catastrophic event. This does not take into account uninsured damage, such as damage to public infrastructure and damage to uninsured property/vehicles, for example.