New Brunswick’s primary electrical utility in the province, NB Power, and the province’s Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) said on Friday that they considering creating a dedicated emergency broadcast station to provide essential information to people in the province in times of crisis. The consideration is one of 51 recommendations contained in a provincial review of the Atlantic Canada storm in the winter of 2017, released on Friday. From Jan. 24-26, an ice storm hit central and eastern New Brunswick, from Miscou Island to Sackville. The intense low-pressure system resulted in…
CALGARY – In an industry that lives and dies by the weather, farmers like Dwight Foster are looking for all the help they can get to know what’s coming. “We use every tool in the toolbox we can get our…
Just leaving current wetlands in their natural state could cause riverine flooding-related flood damage to plummet as much as 38% and should provide the impetus for communities to view natural infrastructure as a climate adaptation solution, notes a study from…
As British Columbia has declared a state of emergency due to wildfires burning out of control throughout much of the Interior, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is encouraging policyholders to discuss policy limits with their insurer. Most home and…
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation is holding a field hearing in West Palm Beach, Fl. to discuss the economic impacts of extreme weather and coastal flooding. Lead by Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), the hearing, titled “Extreme…
An updated North American climate index shows an increase in the occurrence of extreme weather events in Canada. A number of Canadian regions are among those with the highest index values, indicating the largest deviations in extreme weather events and sea levels from historical values. How can this information help inform the risk management strategies of Canadian insurers and others?
The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) and the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation (Intact Centre) at the University of Waterloo have announced that they are joining forces to develop a new report on best practices for making new residential communities…
The federal budget’s commitment to create a $2 billion Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund demonstrates Ottawa’s increasing support for disaster risk reduction, suggests Glenn McGillivray, managing director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR). “For many years, the federal…
Organizations representing the actuarial profession in Canada and the United States have reported an Actuaries Climate Index (ACI) value for the summer of 2016 of 1.72, the third-highest seasonal level recorded. On Tuesday, the four organizations representing actuaries in the…
Community resilience looks to be taking a big step forward with the recent announcement that National Research Council Canada (NRCC) will take into account climate change as part of regular updates to the country’s building codes. The NRCC will conduct…
The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is congratulating the federal government on the National Research Council Canada (NRC) decision to update the country’s building codes to reflect the realities of climate change. “This is something that Canada’s property and casualty…
WASHINGTON – A new scientific report finds man-made climate change played some role in two dozen extreme weather events last year but not in a few other weird weather instances around the world. An annual report released Thursday by the…