Four of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) top 10 weather events of 2024 were in Alberta.
Two of them were among the costliest weather events in Canadian history.
Calgary’s Aug. 5 hailstorm affected close to one in five homes in Calgary, damaged the Calgary airport and racked up close to $1 billion in automobile claims.
DCC Hail’s Canadian operations manager Jessica Ursel says it’s the most damaging storm the company has ever dealt with.
“This has been one of the largest events that I’ve personally seen, especially when it comes to hail,” Ursel said.
“That five minutes of hail is probably going to give us two years’ worth of work. We’re booking almost into next summer.”
ECCC meteorologist Jennifer Smith says the extent of the damage in that August hailstorm was not just the result of large hail and powerful winds.
“Part of it is just spread. We’ve got …