HALIFAX – A top Canadian meteorologist warns that municipalities aren’t prepared to deal with a volatile climate that can bring devastating floods one season and a drought the next.
In the last five years, Canadian cities have been buried in record-breaking snowfall, scorched by unprecedented wildfires, blasted by tornadoes, hurricanes and lightning strikes.
READ MORE: July was Earth’s hottest month on record
Yet David Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada, says infrastructure continues to be built based on decades-old weather patterns that are no longer the norm.
The president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities says the issue is funding and co-ordination with higher levels of government.
Raymond Louie says the federation is calling on the next federal government to invest an extra 1.5 billion dollars a year in infrastructure.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada says insurance claim payouts from severe weather events were not notable prior to 2011, but now average around 1 billion dollars a year.
In 2013, payouts hit a record-high of 3.6 billion.
WATCH: The Maria S. Merian, one of the world’s leading research vessels for marine science, is in Halifax. Global’s Natasha Pace has more on the ship, its research and its connection to Halifax.
Comments