July hailstorm causes $92M in insured damage

The hailstorm that briefly hit Chestermere in July caused close to $92 million in insured damage.

The estimated cost comes from the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), with damage to vehicles representing 65 per cent of all claims. 

Although neighbourhoods like Strathmore were unaffected by the storm, many of the insurance claims came from the Calgary area. 

In the last two decades there have been more than $11 billion in insured damage caused by local hailstorms. According to IBC, $6 billion of those damages were since 2020.

The bureau claims that Alberta experiences one major hail storm every year, with the 2024 August hailstorm causing around $3.25 billion in damages, making it the second-costliest disaster in Canadian history.

 The hailstorm in July brought local flooding to Chestermere, damaging the plant bed of local resident Brenda Ell.