The Winds Of Change

Strong winds blew through southwestern Ontario on Aug. 20, intensifying as they moved east. The winds created a solid north-to-south line of thunderstorms extending from North Bay through southern and central Ontario, to well south of the lower Great Lakes. Seventeen tornadoes emerged from that storm cell, tying the Aug. 2, 2006 record set for most tornadoes in Ontario in one day.

According to Environment Canada, “it appears the same parent storm generated intermittent tornado damage for a remarkable 125 km, extending from New Lowell to Moonstone through Gravenhurst to Ril Lake.” Four of these tornadoes were rated as F2 storms on the Fujita Scale, with peak winds between 180 and 240 kilometres per hour. The province has not seen more than two tornadoes in one day since May 31, 1985.

Damage costs

In the Quebec town of Mont-Laurier, an F2 tornado tore through on Aug. 4, causing about $6 million in insurable damage. The storm was short, but the damage was extensive, resulting in 250 claims, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Out of these 250 claims, insurers reported 146 claims for damage to homes and personal property totalling close to $4 million. Eightyeight auto insurance claims were made, with damages estimated at $400,000. It is estimated that damage to businesses and companies in the area was about $2 million.

The total insurable cost from the Ontario tornadoes was not available as of press time, but reported damage included downed trees, flipped cars, damaged homes, collapsing sheds and a nearly demolished hockey arena.

Detailed damage

Most of the houses in the Woodbridge area of Vaughan are built with unreinforced masonry walls and pitched roof construction, according to a report from the University of Waterloo, Vaughan Ontario Damage Investigation — The August 20, 2009 Tornadoes. Significant damage to roof shingles and sheathing were observed. Furthermore, there was substantial damage to the structural components of the roof, specifically the roof trusses, ranging from the removal of several trusses to complete failure of the roof.

This structural debris caused significant damage to houses downwind. The damage to the house walls was likely mitigated because the homes are made of brick veneer versus vinyl siding, according to the report.

Most of the damage was the result of the failure of the nails to connect to the walls. This caused the roof to fly off and, subsequently, the walls, lacking support, to collapse. According to the report, “in nearly every case the nails had been sheared through the edge of the plywood rather than the expected failures, where the nails either pull through the plywood or withdraw from the roof truss. Moreover, standard nailing patterns place more nails along the perimeter of the panel than in the interior and the perimeter nails are less prone to construction errors (nails missing trusses), coupled with the shear failure mode described above, this may result in a lower uplift resistance than would have otherwise been expected.”

Industry role

During a presentation organized by the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR), one of the report’s author’s, Gregory Kopp, a researcher at the University of Western Ontario, said some of the tornado damage in Vaughan could have been mitigated if the roofs had simply stayed attached to the homes. Attaining this could be as simple as using hurricane braces — a relatively inexpensive fix — to ensure that roofs can withstand high winds.

The ICLR is in talks now to determine the role it can take, on behalf of the Canadian property and casualty industry, in regards to raising awareness about building codes and enforcement of said codes. Paul Kovacs said the ICLR was looking at two possible directions: Sharing research about tornado damage to help improve building codes, and following the lead of the U.S. p&c industry where communities are rated dependent on how well their codes are enforced. Whether a program like this could be imported into Canada, the cost associated and whether it is worth investing in is being looked at.

“We are going to have more tornadoes and we are going to have more hurricanes and we are certainly going to have more wind in the future,” Robert Tremblay director of research, IBC, says. “The question is to what level must we build the future houses to withstand and these are important questions.”

Water trumps wind

For Tremblay, while the tornado events are definitely important, when looking from a cost perspective, water damage is the number one loss for icyholders — not tornadoes. Two rain events in Ontario — one in Hamilton on July 26 and one in Ottawa on July 28 — were approximately three times more costly (based on preliminary figures) than the tornadoes that struck across Ontario. The concern is the increasing failure of the municipal infrastructure, which results in sewer backup into homes and buildings. “Practically every major urban centre in Canada has significant problem with this infrastructure and as an industry of course we are covering sewer back up and that is costly too,” Tremblay says. “[Sewer backup] is definitely, at the national level, far more important than wind damage. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have to work on wind damage; that’s why we have the Insurance Research Lab for Better Homes.”

Industry at the ready

No matter the type of event, the industry is effectively prepared to handle large losses. RSA was on the scene of the tornadoes in Woodbridge that evening, so quickly in fact that one of its staff was following the OPP up the highway, Irene Bianchi, vice president of claims, said. Residents were allowed back in their homes the following morning and RSA was on site with its mobile claims response unit to ensure its insureds were able to open a claim immediately. Bianchi estimates the company had roughly 40 to 50 claims in the Vaughan area, with much of the damage being top roofs or fencing. There were a few homes where the roof was completely ripped off. “We did have a fair number of claims, it’s keeping everybody busy we’ve responded to everybody,” she says. “As we get the claim notification we are actively working on it. But it’s just the scope of the disaster really; it’s a very very small neighbourhood, but a lot of damage within that small piece and similarly in the Maple area as well.”

Crawford & Company (Canada) Inc. had people in the Durham area late in the afternoon of Aug. 20 responding to various resident and commercial losses, Mike Koch, property and catastrophe manager, says. “We have to react based upon the numbers that are presented by the clients,” says, adding adjusters react very quickly. “When we see these cells coming through the radar, our people are on high alert, especially in the areas. We’re completelynetworkedthrough computers, cell phones and so on, and as soon as we get notification and are aware of damages occurring, we respond immediately.”

If the situation requires it, he says his team has the ability to bring outside Crawford resources in as well to help handle the event.

To ensure the safety of the items within the damaged homes in the area, security companies were called in to secure the site. A.S.A. P Secured was there early on Aug. 21 securing a number of areas in Vaughan, including a dental office and a catholic school in addition to residential properties. “We are there working in conjunction with the local authorities to make sure that the individual homes that were covered under certain insurance company’s policies that we do work for were protected,” Rob Garland, vice president of A.S.A.P., says. “The fact is that they can go on to temporary housing or other locations and not have to worry about their valuables going missing or anybody going through their things.”