Insurance news from Western Canada may soon involve higher rates

Insurance news

Insurance news - hailSevere summer storms in the province of Alberta caused massive amounts of insured damage.

The severe storms that were faced by the Canadian province of Alberta are once again making insurance news as the millions of dollars in damages may now be sending rates in an upward direction.

In August, insurers in Canada had to pay out approximately $550 million for a hail storm that hit Calgary.

In July and August, the province faced three separate severe storms, which each made insurance news with their multimillion dollar price tags for insurers. The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) reported that the Calgary hail storm from August 13, 2012 cost insurers over half a million dollars.

This year has been an exceptionally expensive one, particularly due to the insurance news this summer.

According to the Heather Mack from the IBC “It has been a very expensive summer for insurance companies, especially with the hail in Calgary in August. That accounts for almost half of the insured losses from severe weather in Canada for the entire year.”

Unfortunately, the storm on August 13 was far from the only one to hit the area. On July 27, another storm struck the southern end of the province, bringing insurance news that cost $74 million in repair claims.

Mack went on to explain that residents of Alberta should be expecting that their premiums are likely on their way up. This is the typical insurance industry response to a large number of sizable payouts.

The IBC also stated that its records from insurance news over the year have indicated that the payouts for three out of the last four years for extreme weather damage have broken the $1 billion mark. This, according to Mack, is a trend that is cause for concern. She said that all the IBC has is the data from what has occurred, but they can’t provide the explanation for why the trend is moving in that direction as it is “not our area of expertise.”

All they are able to report in terms of insurance news is the figures that reflect the experiences of the country, and that it looks as though new weather patterns are beginning to develop.

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