The Fort McMurray wildfires. The Calgary flood. The Red River flood. The Slave Lake wildfires. The ice storms of 1998 and 2013.
We all likely remember these events, caused by extreme weather, be it heat or heavy precipitation. And, in the face of a changing global climate, Canadians can expect to see these types of events more frequently.
READ MORE: Better planning and tracking of severe weather needed: auditor general
A report from the auditor general released on Tuesday concluded that the federal government isn’t doing enough to help avoid severe weather events from turning into disasters.
“Overall, we concluded that the federal government has not made it a priority to help decision makers mitigate the anticipated impacts of severe weather,” the report said in its conclusion.
It also noted that, “Over the past six fiscal years, the federal government spent more on recovering from large-scale natural disasters than in the previous 39 fiscal years combined.”
So what can the government do?
Global News spoke with Paul Kovacs, executive director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) and adjunct research professor for Western University’s Economics Department. He presented at the Provincial and Territorial Summit on Fighting Climate Change in Quebec City in April and believes we can stave off the extreme effects severe weather could have on Canadians.
Good news/bad news
One can measure the success in dealing with extreme weather on many levels but, Kovacs said, the main two ICLR uses is loss of life and property damage.
“In terms of loss of life, the chance of someone dying or being injured because of severe weather in Canada is very low,” he said. “There are more people in Canada and there are more storms, but the loss of life has been getting smaller in time.”
That’s the good news. Property damage, however, is another thing altogether.
“Loss of life has gone down, so that’s progress, and that’s a good thing … But property damage is unacceptably high and alarmingly increasing,” Kovacs said.
According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, payouts due to severe weather claims have doubled every five to 10 years since the 1980s.
The extreme weather events of 2013 — most notably the Alberta floods and the ice storm across Ontario, Quebec and parts of Atlantic Canada — cost the insurance industry $3.2 billion alone.
WATCH: Fort McMurray wildfire: Insurance likely to outpace Calgary floods, Slave Lake fires
Preparing for the worst
Climate change is bringing more extreme weather to Canada, and experts say it’s likely to get worse.
“It’s not like you’re going to stop the storm,” Kovacs said. “But you can make people ready for the storm,” Kovacs said.
When it comes to being better prepared, Kovacs said there are several things we can do: preparing individuals, preparing response officials, mitigation and recovery. When it comes to preparing individuals and response officials, Kovacs said that Canada has been doing that for years. But it’s mitigation that is a key component. And there are four methods the government can improve upon — as recommended in the auditor general’s report.
Improved building codes
“Building codes aren’t even ready for today’s weather, let alone the severe weather that is on the horizon as a result of climate change,” said Kovacs.
The key would be to build new homes and buildings to withstand such things as high winds in the face of anticipated increased wind storms (something that is quite common across parts of southern Ontario) and tornadoes which are relatively common in the Prairies and southwestern Ontario.
But when it comes to retrofitting homes, that can be done, too, though at a cost.
Land-use planning
Restricting where communities are built, such as close to floodplains or areas of increased fire danger, would help to mitigate property damage costs.
One important aspect of land-use planning is the need for better floodplain maps. Many of today’s maps are outdated.
Protective infrastructure
Building dams or reinforcing bridges to withstand high winds, severe winter weather or floods, for example, is an important step in mitigating the effects of extreme weather events.
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Educating people
While governments — both provincial and federal — have been doing this for years, it’s important to not only further educate people about the effects of severe weather, but also to inform them as to what they can do to better prepare themselves.
Daunting task
The National Disaster Mitigation Program is a federal initiative with a budget of $200 million to help provinces “build safer and more resilient communities.”
However, the auditor general’s report concluded that the funding isn’t designed for large-scale projects.
For Kovacs, that’s key.
“I would put a lot more money in the national mitigation strategy,” Kovacs said.
As for the cost of mitigation, Kovacs said that it’s a no-brainer.
“There’s international research that shows for every dollar you spend to avoid these bad weather events from turning into a disaster, you save four dollars, five dollars. We’re putting so little in right now and so my one recommendation is to take the strategy and put more resources, more money up front.”
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