Water damage in New Brunswick almost quadruples in four years: IBC

Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) took its message of climate change adaptation to New Brunswick, where data insured water damage losses have almost quadrupled in four years.

Speaking to the Saint John Board of Trade on Feb. 22, IBC president and CEO Don Forgeron observed that water damage losses in New Brunswick escalated from $7 million in 2005 to $23 million in 2009.

“That’s huge,” he said. “And when we compare this relative growth to losses from fire, water wins the race, hands down.”

IBC commissioned a study by Dr. Gordon McBean, a professor at the University of Western Ontario, who found that Atlantic Canada was hit by 16 hurricanes between 1990 and 2005. Most recently, Hurricane Irene caused more than $130 million worth of wind and water damage in August 2011.

“Here in Canada…home, car and business insurers have seen claims pay-outs from severe weather double every five to 10 years since the 1980s,” Forgeron said.

IBC presented a number of ways Canada’s P&C industry is responding to the escalating water claims, including a demonstration of the Municipal Risk Assessment Tool (MRAT), which is expected to be implemented gradually, starting in 2013. MRAT allows municipalities to collect data identifying a municipality’s greatest sewer and storm water vulnerabilities.

Acknowledging that the federal government committed close to $150 million towards a climate change adaptation strategy, Forgeron said the sum “is not enough to address the adaptation problems our country faces.”

Forgeron said he met with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty during pre-2012 budget consultations and encouraged the federal government to “undertake a focused effort to work with all other levels of government to improve water and wastewater infrastructure.”