Normalized insured losses caused by windstorms in Quebec and Ontario, Canada, in the period 2008-2021

TL;DR

This study systematically analyzes insured windstorm losses in Quebec and Ontario from 2008 to 2021, revealing significant disparities in damage distribution and identifying storm types with the highest impact.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive, data-driven comparison of windstorm damages in two Canadian provinces, highlighting storm trajectories and storm types as key factors.

Findings

Ontario and Quebec experienced half of Canada's wind catastrophes.

Total losses exceeded CA$5.2 billion, mainly affecting Ontario.

Convective storms caused the majority of damage, tornadoes had the highest average loss.

Abstract

Severe windstorms pose threats to people, human-made structures, and the environment. An investigation of insured losses caused by windstorms is a multipurpose study that serves to advance the resilience and sustainability of modern communities. The present study proposes a systematic analysis of insured losses imposed by different types of windstorms in two Canadian provinces, Ontario (ON) and Quebec (QC), during the period 2008-2021. Actual wind damage data from the Canadian insurance market were considered in this study. Our calculations show that ON and QC received half of all wind catastrophes across Canada, and nearly three-quarters of all types of catastrophes in ON and QC were wind-related ones. The total windstorm loss of over CA$5.2 billion was not evenly distributed between QC and ON, but rather had a QC:ON ratio of 1:3.1. We attributed this discrepancy in the inflicted damage between two provinces to the predominantly eastward and northeastward storm trajectories and the higher density of wealth and population in ON. Convective storms were the most devastating wind type comprising nearly 65% and 67% of the total number of events and associated damage, respectively. Finally, tornadoes had the highest average loss per event in two provinces combined. Future prospects and the implication of this research are also discussed.