2023 is now the fourth-worst year for insured losses in Canada due to severe weather events and natural catastrophic events.

Canada reached $3.1 billion in insured damage from those events, according to Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ).

The Insurance Bureau of Canada says as a result of escalating losses and revised risk modelling, Canada is viewed now as a riskier place to insure.

Over 1.5 million high-risk households cannot access affordable flood insurance. It is also becoming harder for some households to obtain insurance for earthquakes and related hazards.

Severe weather events last year include the Atlantic Canada cold snap; Ontario and Quebec spring ice storm; the Tantallon, Nova Scotia, wildfire; Nova Scotia flooding; Prairies summer storms; the Winnipeg hailstorm; Ontario severe summer storms; the Okanagan and Shuswap, BC, area wildfires; and the Behchokǫ̀-Yellowknife and Hay River, NWT, wildfires.

2023 Insured Catastrophic Losses (CNW Group/Insurance Bureau of Canada)