Homes damaged by floods could be renovated to withstand future flooding. So why aren’t they? [Video]

Soggy and stained futons, cushions and rugs. Scraps of moldy drywall. Mud-covered washers and dryers. Dead TVs. Warped wood flooring and furniture.

The damage, adding up to billions of dollars, can be seen in videos taken after major floods across Canada this summer.

Traditionally, with help from insurance, homeowners would try to restore their damaged homes as close to their original condition as possible, said Bernard Deschamps, who worked in the insurance industry for 35 years. 

But now Deschamps and other experts say that’s not good enough — we need to build back better to prevent future damage, and insurance companies and governments can help or hamper efforts to do that. 

Simply rebuilding can lead to repeat damage

Deschamps has retired from the insurance industry and is now doing research on insurance and disasters for his PhD at the University of Quebec at Montreal.

He says the principle of “identical reconstruction”is part of many insurance regulations. The idea was to prevent homeowners from …