The second annual Flood Risk Summit, brought to you by
Aviva Canada, will feature the country’s most charismatic climatologist and the leading minds of catastrophe insurance.
Environment Canada’s David Phillips will explain why the future will be “warmer, wetter and wilder,” why flooding in Canada will change into prolonged, less characteristically Canadian weather and what we can do with our infrastructure to prepare for it.
Learn more about flood insurance here.
Though Phillips advises we “won’t have typhoons in Saskatoon or sandstorms in Halifax,” Canadians can expect greater effects from flood.
On the coverage side, Chair of the
IBAO Michael Brattman, said he was anxious to get on the broker panel and cited an Aviva study that said 43% of Canadians still don’t know if their home coverage includes overland flooding.
Brattman, who is the vice president of individual insurance operations and innovation at the Ontario Teachers Insurance Plan, said flood coverage is certainly changing in Canada.
“Most companies now offer an enhanced coverage, where a year and a half ago there wasn’t any coverage and we were the only G7 country that didn’t have any,” Brattman, who helped create a catastrophe task force at the IBAO to address shortfalls like a lack of flood insurance, said.
“In 2013, floods in Calgary and Toronto, there were over $ 5.3 billion in damages and only $3 billion were insurable. Since that time it’s great to see the insurance industry stepping up to find a solution.”
To learn more about Flood Risk Summit –visit
www.floodrisksummit.com
Brattman said flood insurance should be available, affordable and understandable.
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He held that it wasn’t just the job of brokers to keep consumers informed about their coverage, but also mitigation methods like water pumps with battery backups or overflow valves that reduce exposure. Smart home devices are making their own mark on flood protection, with insurers providing modest discounts on premiums for water sensors and more companies entering the market with innovations.
Meanwhile, Phillips said he was keen to speak to a room full of insurance professionals, saying he had admiration for the industry.
The nearly 50-year veteran of Environment Canada described climate change as a topic more agreed upon by scientists than the moon landing and stressed Canada would get left behind if it doesn’t learn to adapt.
“The costs will resonate because it’s costing us more than what insurance covers,” Phillips said, commending the insurance industry for looking beyond its own losses and helping those who’ve incurred uninsured damages.
“It’s not just a basement rug, it’s a mental health thing, it disrupts families and causes depression - we don’t factor those in,” he said.
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