The Insurance Bureau of Canada says early July flooding in Ontario caused more than $850 million in insured property damage and the total is expected to rise.

A storm July 8-9, which dumped a record amount of rain in Toronto shut down subways, knocked out power to 300,000 residents and crippled air travel, set a record for insured losses in Ontario from a single event. Flights at Toronto Pearson International and Toronto Island airports were significantly delayed or canceled.

“While these preliminary estimates are staggering, we do expect them to go even higher,” says Ralph Palumbo, IBC vice president for Ontario.

According to IBS and PCS-Canada Service, the insured losses from the July storms trumped a wind and rain storm in August 2005 that caused $671 million in carrier payouts and a July 2009 rain event that billed insurers $228 million.

IBC says it does not have an insured-loss estimate for flooding in Alberta. “Any tabulation, at this point, is changing almost daily,” the bureau says.

Flood losses in Canada and Europe dominated second-quarter catastrophe losses reported by multiple insurers.

READ: Record-Breaking Rains Drench Toronto

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July Floods in Toronto to Cost Insurers $850M

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