B.C. floods caused $515M worth of insured damage: Insurance Bureau

November’s catastrophic floods in B.C. caused more than $515-million worth of insured damage, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC).

Rob de Pruis with the bureau calls it “the costliest insured event in British Columbia’s history.”

“What’s unique about this event is it wasn’t isolated to one community,” he said. “There were many communities across the southwestern portion of British Columbia that were impacted. And there was numerous states of emergency and all these different jurisdictions that just added complexity to this flood.”

We're now getting a sense of the financial costs of November's devastating BC floods. The Insurance Bureau of Canada now estimates flooding around the province caused $515-million worth of insured damage, the costliest insured event in the province's history. More @CityNewsVAN

— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) January 19, 2022

A state of emergency was declared on Nov. 17 after flooding forced thousands to flee their homes, and five people died after being caught in mudslides. Hundreds of thousands of farm animals also died as a result of the disaster. Flooding and landslides caused major damage to several B.C. highways, and closures brought transportation to and from the Lower Mainland to a halt.

As highways begin to reopen to regular traffic and repairs get underway, the state of emergency is set to expire Wednesday at the stroke of midnight.

Insurance companies have enacted their catastrophic response plans, de Pruis says, and have people standing by to assist policyholders.

Farmers in Abbotsford have launched a class-action lawsuit against the city, province, and the Fraser Valley Regional District, claiming governments failed to properly warn them about the floods.

Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun estimated more than 1,200 acres of blueberry fields were flooded, killing the plants. It takes years to cultivate blueberry crops, usually taking about four years to produce a good one.

Related articles:

• B.C.’s Coquihalla Highway to reopen to regular traffic Wednesday after floods
• Abbotsford farmers file flood lawsuit, claim governments failed to provide warning
• Hwy 1 between Lytton, Spences Bridge partially re-opening after November flooding

Across the country, the IBC report finds there was $2.1 billion worth of insured damage due to severe weather. In light of climate change and increasing worry such weather events may become more severe and frequent, de Pruis says IBC is working with government to find new options for Canadians.

“We’re experiencing just an increased frequency and severity of severe weather over this past decade. In fact, six out of the 10 costliest events in our nation’s history took place over this past decade,” he said. “We’re part of a flood insurance relocation task force and really exploring options and trying to come up with a solution, some type of public private model that would really enable Canadians regardless of their flood risk in order to purchase overland flood insurance coverage.”

More than 90 per cent of British Columbians are eligible for flood coverage, de Pruis says, yet just under half of them purchased it.

“Even if you’re not near a lake or a river, you can still be impacted by flooding. Some of these really big rainfall events could overwhelm the storm sewer system and you could actually get water creeping up onto your property and entering into your home,” he said. “We really need to build a better culture of preparedness.”

He says that includes developing resilience within communities to prevent catastrophic natural disasters and reduce damage.

With files from Denise Wong, Claire Fenton, and Lisa Steacy