A three-day rainstorm causing flooding along the southern British Columbia coastline has created $110 million in insured damage, according to the latest estimates from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ).
From Oct 18 to 20, a Category 4 atmospheric river swept through Coquitlam, Burnaby, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Metro Vancouver and Surrey, B.C., causing significant flood damage.
“The intense rainfall and strong wind gusts resulted in rivers overflowing and multiple instances of sewer backups, as well as flooded basements, roads and parking garages,” Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) said in a statement on the damage.
Coquitlam received 254 mm of rain in a 24-hour period on Oct. 19 — two and half times more than the 2021 atmospheric river. (For comparison, B.C.’s 2021 flood caused $450 million in insured damage).
A local state of emergency was declared in North Vancouver on the evening of Oct. 20. It was lifted on Nov. 7, more than two weeks after the storm. Some properties in the area were evacuated due to unstable ground.
A small number of sewer backups occurred in Port Moody, and some residential basements flooded, according to the Canadian Press. Port Coquitlam officials reported some infrastructural damage related to its culverts and drainage channels.
Although residential flood coverage is “widely available” in the communities affected by this flood event, some properties might’ve been ineligible or had limited access to insurance due to their high flood risk, IBC says.
When factoring in the damage losses of those without flood insurance, total economic losses will be higher.
“While insurers will be paying out millions of dollars in claims for this event, we expect total losses to be far higher, due to the number of uninsured properties, as well as damage to public infrastructure,” says Jason Clark, IBC’s national director of climate change advocacy.
Multiple homes are seen surrounded by debris left by flooding from torrential rain from an atmospheric river weather system at Deep Cove in North Vancouver, on Tuesday, October 22, 2024. Heavy rain isn’t unusual for the community of Deep Cove, in North Vancouver, but when Ashifa Saferali saw an ebike floating down the middle of the street she knew this storm was something different. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
