How the Nova Scotia floods compare to Hurricane Fiona

Recent flooding in Nova Scotia has led adjusters to see damages comparable to Hurricane Fiona, but final claims totals aren’t expected to be as high as when Fiona blew through the East Coast last September, claims professionals on the ground tell Canadian Underwriter. 

Michael Galea, senior vice president of operations at Sedgwick, says the claims volume has not been as high as Fiona, which cost the industry an estimated $800 million. 

“In terms of damages, it is comparable [to Fiona],” Galea said of the rain storm in Nova Scotia this past week, which dropped more than 200 millimetres of rain in some parts of the Halifax area. “In Fiona, we saw more wind damage, whereas this is a higher frequency of water damage. In the end, water damage tends to require more site visits, versus wind damage [that] can be handled at the desk. 

“Thus far, this is predominantly a water damage event limited to pockets of the population,” Galea said. “There are not only residential houses being affected but commercial as well and some roads are washed away.” 

Halifax, Nova Scotia’s South Shore, and central and western parts of the province saw significant rainfall last Friday after three months’ worth of rain hit the province in the span of 24 hours. Four people are dead and a provincial state of emergency was declared until Aug 5, but has since been lifted. But the strain on adjusters persists.  

“Contractors are already busy dealing with Fiona from last fall and the wildfires as of late,” Galea said. “This will be a continued strain.”

Rannoch Harley, director of loss adjusting in Atlantic Canada for Crawford & Company, said that while damages are “incredibly significant,” the impact is not as widespread as that of Hurricane Fiona.  

“It does not have the same level of persistent power outage and [Nova Scotia Power] restoration effort as experienced with Hurricane Fiona. But in addition to large scale conventional claims volume, there is extensive infrastructure damage and uninsured losses across wide swathes of the province.” 

It’s too early to estimate what the final claims totals will be, but industry experts warn much of the overland flood damage in high-risk areas will be uninsured. “Availability of overland flood insurance is limited in high-risk flood-prone areas, and sadly, many of the damaged properties will most likely be uninsured,” Craig Stewart, vice president of climate change and federal issues at Insurance Bureau of Canada, observed in a news release.

Guessing an insured loss total for the floods will be a challenge, Glenn McGillivray, managing director at the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, said on Twitter.  

“On one hand, the 2021 atmospheric river in B.C. cost insurers $675 [million] when many guessed it would be much larger. On the other, the smaller 2020 flood in Fort McMurray cost over $520 [million] due to a lot of commercial damage,” the Tweet reads.  

Meanwhile, the province has announced assistance for those who are struggling financially in the aftermath of the flooding.  

The Disaster Financial Assistance Program could cover up to $200,000 in uninsurable losses for households, small businesses and non-profit organizations, as not all disasters are covered by primary carriers. 

Buildings are seen in floodwater following a major rain event in Halifax on Saturday, July 22, 2023. A long procession of intense thunderstorms have dumped record amounts of rain across a wide swath of Nova Scotia, causing flash flooding, road washouts and power outages. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese