(Bloomberg) — The wildfires that tore across the oil-producingregion of Canada this year will cost insurers about C$3.58 billion(US$2.8 billion) in claims, the most costly insured naturaldisaster in the country’s history, an industry group said.

The fires led to 27,000 personal-property claims averagingC$81,000 each, and 12,000 auto claims averaging C$15,000, theInsurance Bureau of Canada said Thursday in a statement. More than5,000 commercial claims averaged over C$250,000 and included costsfrom work stoppages. The estimates come from insurer surveyscollected by Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc.

The wildfires raged across Northern Alberta and forced theevacuation of about 88,000 people in May, damaging Fort McMurrayneighborhoods, oil-production facilities and businesses. The blazesforced oil companies including Suncor Energy Inc. to curb outputand evacuate staff.

“This wildfire, and the damage it caused, is more alarmingevidence that extreme weather events have increased in bothfrequency and severity in Canada,” Don Forgeron, IBC’s president,said in the statement.

The previous costliest natural disaster on record was a 2013Southern Alberta flood, which cost C$1.7 billion in insuranceclaims, IBC said.

Related: Alberta wildfires worse for Canada economy than Katrina forU.S.