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COSTS OF EXTREME WEATHER: CATASTROPHIC INSURABLE LOSSES
BAD NEWS
41.5 million homes in Canada are uninsurable for flooding
(10% of residential housing)
4Fire insurance not available from Allstate and State Farm
in California
INTACT CENTRE ON CLIMATE ADAPTATION, GETTY IMAGES
GOOD NEWS
$1 INVESTED IN ADAPTATION = $3-8 IN AVOIDED LOSSES
that fall into three categories: (1) Residential and Commercial Buildings, (2) Community-Based Flood Risk Management, and (3) Watershed and Shoreline Management. The
actions o昀昀er a pictorial account of community 昀氀ood protection described fully in A Flood Risk Check-Up for Canadian
Municipalities: Tackling Flooding Together.
By way of brief description, Row 1 of the infographic
pro昀椀les actions to limit 昀氀ood risk at the residential and
commercial property level. A core responsibility of any
municipal government is to ensure that residents receive
guidance on home 昀氀ood protection (this guidance may
be distributed in Property Tax Notice mail-outs). When
presented with this guidance, within six months 70 per cent
of homeowners take two or more actions to limit 昀氀ood risk
that they would otherwise not do. Examples of initiatives
that homeowners can take can be as simple as “test your
RENEWCANADA.NET
sump pump”, which involves pouring water into the sump
well to determine that the pump works—and if not, 昀椀x it.
Homeowners often discover sump pump failure when met
with a basement full of water.
Row 2 highlights community-led 昀氀ood preparedness
programs, such as the municipality issuing timely 昀氀ood
warnings to residents.
The third row illustrates actions municipalities can take
to mitigate 昀氀ood risk, starting with “don’t build on a 昀氀ood
plain.” In high-risk areas, where 昀氀ood risk mitigation
options are cost-prohibitive, municipalities may subsidize
homeowners to motivate them to move to a safe location.
Municipal wildfire protection
The infographic—Three Features of a Wild昀椀re-Ready Community [see Figure 2]—pro昀椀les wild昀椀re preparedness at
MAY/JUNE 2025 – RENEW CANADA 27
