Sponsored by Intact Assurance
Joanna Eyquem, Director, Climate Programs – Québec
Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation
Over the past few months, many of us have taken advantage of our time at home to undertake renovations. How many of us, however, have taken the opportunity to improve the resilience of our homes to flood risk, when it is often the most important asset in our lives? And what about your customers?
Quebec has made progress in preparing for flood risks. However, as the recent report Climate Change and the Preparedness of 16 Major Canadian Cities to Limit Flood Risk, produced by the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, University of Waterloo, demonstrates, there is a need to act faster, especially with regard to the resilience of residential properties. Insurance brokers can certainly play a key role in accelerating progress.
Urban flooding is the costliest problem caused by extreme weather conditions in Canada. This includes flooding along rivers and coasts, as well as those caused by heavy rains or torrential downpours, which are set to become more and more frequent due in particular to climate change.
Free Online Resources on Property Flood Resilience
Helping Your Clients to Protect Their Homes From Flooding: is a free 1.5-hour online training course that you can take on your own, developed based on four years of community-based home flood protection research by the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo. Accessible to all members of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC), this training can provide access to continuing education units (CEUs).
The knowledge acquired during this training will enable you to inform your clients about the causes of the increase in losses related to basement flooding, the different types of flooding that can affect homes as well as the best practices to be implemented to protect their homes from flooding.
Three Steps to Cost-Effective Home Flood Protection: is another key resource offered by the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation and includes information on maintenance activities, low-cost jobs to consider, and other more complex renovations that can help reduce the risk of flooding. An online home check-up app is also available to help your customers learn about precautions they can consider in their homes.
So don’t hesitate! Use the available resources and take the IBAC training course today to better support your clients. Together, we can adapt to climate change and reduce future flood risks.
