Photos of an intense hailstorm that turned the green, leafy streets of North Battleford, Sask., into to a winter wonderland last week were seen by thousands on the internet.
Golf ball sized hail in Calgary that smashed car windows and punched holes in house siding made the nightly television news.
However, most of the hail damage this summer has happened in the city rather than in the country, said Rennie McQueen, president of Palliser Insurance Co. in Saskatoon.
No claims were faxed to McQueen’s office the day after the North Battleford storm.
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“I’d almost want to say it’s about normal,” said McQueen. “It’s way worse than last year, but not anywhere close to the year before that.”
To date, 930 claims have come into his office from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Of those, 536 were from Saskatchewan.
Last year, 350 claims were filed up to the same July 23 weekend.
In 2008, there were 2,760 claims.
“There were lots of storms everywhere and a lot of it; 800 claims were in Alberta. That was a horrible year.”
He said hailstorms in late June or early July are a hail insurance adjustor’s nightmare because it’s difficult for them to know how much damage has been done to the crop and how much it will recover.
Sometimes the crop will regrow with nice weather, while in supersaturated fields, crops may drown out or the heads will be permanently damaged and never fill.
Wet fields, late seeding and a late spring frost have made it difficult for adjustors to assess hail damage. If an adjustor can’t provide a definitive answer on the amount of damage, the claim must be deferred until later when the damage is clear.
“This is an awful time of year to be in the office,” McQueen said. “It becomes a real dog’s breakfast.”
Loren Stewart of Strathmore, Alta., was hit by the early summer storm. He estimated he lost 100 percent of 1,500 acres of crop and had about 50 percent crop loss on the rest of his fields.
“All that’s left of canola is the stalks sticking up. The barley looks like someone went out with a lawn mower and chewed it right off. It varies from 50 percent to ‘took it all.’ “
Some of his claims have been deferred until a true estimate of damage can be assessed.
“The canola is never going to recover. There is not much to defer as far as I’m concerned. It’s the same old story from the adjustors: ‘We want to wait and see.’ It’s going to get froze and end up with nothing. The canola ends up as powder or garbage.”[
