The Fort McMurray wildfire will be the costliest natural disaster for insurers in Canadian history. The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimates it will run $3.58 billion, based on initial survey data.
In total, 2,400 homes and other structures were destroyed by the blaze, which broke out on May 1st and forced the evacuation of more than 80,000 people. Hundreds of other buildings were damaged by smoke, or are too close to the damaged neighbourhoods to be lived in.
The insured property damage is twice the amount of the 2013 southern Alberta floods, which ran up $1.7 billion in insurance claims.
