Cost of record-breaking Calgary hailstorm surged to $3.25B: report​on February 11, 2025 at 8:19 pm

The tally for the second-costliest insurance event in Canada’s history, Calgary’s August 2024 hailstorm, continues to rise.

Insured losses from the supercell storms that pummelled communities in north Calgary last year are now estimated to be $3.25 billion, up from $2.8 billion reported in September, suggests a new report from the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC).

The storm had already set a new record for insured losses caused by hail with more than 130,000 insurance claims.

Insured damage to vehicles is now estimated at nearly $1 billion, with damage being so extensive that about half of them were total losses, IBC said in a Tuesday media release.

The industry association said almost 60,000 homes in the Calgary area were impacted, but the availability of building supplies and repair contractor services in the city “has been strained by the scale of the damage”.

“However, insurers will continue to work with their customers until all repairs are completed,” said IBC, adding that the majority of repairs are expected to be complete this spring and summer.

In 2020 another hailstorm pelted through communities in northeast Calgary, causing an estimated $1.3 billion in insurable damages among more than 70,000 claims.

IBC pointed out that a new report from Aon, a global risk-modelling firm, highlights a “growing risk of hail events” facing the northern parts of Calgary.

The report noted that parts of the city have seen “staggering urban development” in recent decades. Analysis of the August 2024 hailstorm’s footprint found that if it occurred 40 years ago, it would have affected mostly agricultural land.

Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal said there’s been a lot of urban development in his northeast ward in recent years, so high insurance claim figures won’t likely go down if there’s another significant hailstorm in the future.

He also said the dollar impact of the storm adds fuel to the argument that building code changes are needed to lessen the amount of damage houses experience during hailstorms.

“It’s troubling to see the damage has gone up almost three times the 2020 hailstorm. It’s proof that this area is prone to this kind of damage,”  Dhaliwal told Postmedia on Tuesday.

Asked how his constituents’ recovery from the August hailstorm is going six-ish months later, he claimed many home and vehicle owners are still waiting for their property damage to be dealt with.

“Auto insurance claims, I think half of them are processed. Half are still waiting. They also acknowledge (some of the residents for home insurance) they’re waiting,” said Dhaliwal

“There are supply chain issues … some of these houses are not going to be fixed until spring, summer, which is a year after the storm,” he said. “Every time I drive through Red Stone, Cornerstone, Sky View, you can see the damage is still visible.”

More to come…

— With files from Scott Strasser