Floods like the one in Baie-Saint-Paul, about 90 kilometres northeast of Quebec City, helped drive up insurance claims from extreme weather in 2023 to the fourth-highest total on record, according to a new report by the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
In total, insured losses from extreme weather events exceeded $3 billion in Canada for the second straight year.
The report underscores concerns about the growing economic cost of weather-related disasters made more frequent and severe by climate change — and the rising cost of insurance coverage for homeowners.
In some cases, homeowners are struggling to get coverage at all.
Developer: “Hey, there’s a lot of waterfront land people would like to build their homes and cottages on.”
Town: “Yeah, we don’t build there because it flooded a hundred years ago.”
Developer: “Pfft. A hundred years? Think of all the property taxes you’ll be able to collect on these modern luxury waterfront homes.”
Town: “Well, since you put it that way…”
If you’re building anything under 100m above sea level, you’re fucking crazy. My place is around 120m above sea level, and I’m considering selling and moving up to the 250m-500m level.