A squash that was hit by hail on the Molnar's Taber Corn farm. Taken August 7, 2019. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Summer 2019 hailstorms caused $181-million in insured damages

Jan 22, 2020 | 10:01 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) says the hailstorms in Western Canada last July and August was among the top weather events of the year when it comes to damages.

Causing an estimated $181-million in insured damages, it was the third most expensive weather event in Canada.

The winter storm in eastern Canada in October cost $250-million, while April and May’s floods in Quebec and New Brunswick caused $208-million in insured damages.

Altogether, the IBC reports that severe weather caused $1.3-million in insured damages in the country in 2019.

“The cost of climate change to Canadians, their businesses and governments continues to rise. IBC encourages all orders of government to work together to reduce our collective climate risk, beginning with a national action plan to address flooding,” says IBC’s Vice President of Federal Affairs Craig Stewart.

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August’s hail storm in southern Alberta was also one of Environment Canada’s top weather stories of 2019.

Molnar’s Taber Corn and Johnson Fresh Farms were hit particularly hard.

James Molnar said they lost anywhere from 480,000-600,000 cobs of corn and around 1,000,000 pounds of pumpkins, as well as nearly all of their squash, cabbages, peppers, tomatoes, and onions.

James Johnson reports that their farm lost approximately 90% of their total crop.

According to Environment Canada, the winds in Barnwell reached 146 km/hr, which is the equivalent of an EF1 tornado.

IBC hopes that the various levels of government will invest more heavily into upgraded infrastructure that can protect communities from extreme weather events like floods and fires, improve building codes and land-use planning, and offer incentives to shift the development of homes and businesses away from areas that are at the highest risk of flooding.

For every dollar paid out in insurance claims for damaged homes and businesses, the group claims that governments and taxpayers pay out much more to repair public infrastructure that was damaged by severe weather.