Vancouver storm damage estimated at Cdn$30 million

Insurance claims are pushing Cdn$30 million after a storm that caused a boil-water advisory in the Vancouver area, according to IBC regional officials quoted in the Victoria Times-Colonist.Lindsay Olson, B.C.-Yukon vice-president of IBC, said insurance claims for storm damage had passed the $20-million mark as of Nov. 22. “Right now we’re looking probably around $30 million,” she told the Times-Colonist. “And there’s still losses being reported, so it’s definitely in flux.”According to the Victoria newspaper, Olsen said these loss totals do not include business revenues lost by restaurants, coffee shops and other businesses that depend on clean water. Those losses are almost certainly not covered by insurance, the paper cites Olsen as saying.As of Nov. 23, a boil-water advisory for Vancouver, Burnaby and much of the North Shore was extended for a ninth day. The Times-Colonist reported “there are signs that it could end in four days or less, unless there are fresh landslides in the watersheds.”On Nov. 16, the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) medical health department advised all areas in the Greater Vancouver area about deteriorating drinking water quality.”The turbidity of the drinking water supplied to homes through the water distribution system has reached levels unprecedented in recent years,” the GVRD said in its Nov. 16 release. “As turbidity increases, there is a potential for increased risk of gastro-intestinal illness.”Until turbidity returns to acceptable levels, residents may wish to use an alternate drinking water source (for example: bottled water) or boil their drinking water.”According to the CBC, more than 200,000 B.C. Hydro customers lost electrical power in a Nov. 15 storm that tossed trees onto power lines and dumped enough rain to push rivers to near-flood levels.The storm packed winds of 100 km-h, and the hardest-hit southern coastal areas included Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford and Maple Ridge.The City of Port Alberni was flooded with 130 millimetres of rain.