Calgary tallies damages arising from hailstorm

It remains too early to tell whether the auto and home insurance claims generated by Calgary’s hailstorm on July 12, 2010 will compare to Canada’s biggest hailstorm claims event in 1991.The 1991 event, also in Calgary, was the country’s worst-recorded hailstorm event in terms of insurance claims. The 30-minute storm almost two decades ago resulted in about 62,000 claims for approximately $342 million in home and auto property damage, according to CBC News.On July 12, 2010, golf-ball-sized hailstones dented cars and smashed car windshields in Calgary, and CBC cited Intact Insurance sources estimating the storm would lead to enough claims to be considered a ‘catastrophic” event (meaning claims damages totaling $25 million or higher).Intact call centre officials reported claims volumes for the event as 10 times more than average.It was too early for the Insurance Bureau of Canada to be able to report on claims and damage numbers arising from the event.