Alberta finance minister says flood costs around $5 billion

Alberta’s finance minister has echoed an earlier estimate from the province’s premier that the costs associated with severe flooding in June are around $5 billion.

The government has so far allocated $704 million to Alberta residents, small business owners and communities for flood recovery.

“Right now, our best estimates show the June flooding disaster to be about a $5-billion event,” Doug Horner, minister of finance and president of the treasury board noted in a first quarter update from the province.

“While costs will be shared—with funding from the Alberta government, the federal government, municipalities and insurance claims—the disaster will impact our finances,” he noted.

“We’re certainly in for some challenges. But with a solid commitment from the federal government for their contribution to support disaster recovery, and thanks to our strong economy and higher revenues in first quarter, we are in a good position to help get lives back to normal.”

Premier Alison Redford had said publicly earlier this summer that the costs associated with the flooding would be around $5 billion, among governments and insurance companies.

Losses from the flooding had an effect on several major insurance and reinsurance companies’ second quarter results.

In its preliminary report on catastrophes for the first half of the year, Swiss Re cited insured loss estimates from the Alberta floods of about $2 billion, which would make the event the highest insured loss ever recorded in Canada.