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  #1  
Old Posted Apr 23, 2009, 4:11 AM
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Worst Calgary disaster?

I've often wondered what the worst disaster in Calgary's history was, leading to the greatest loss of life, and/or greatest dollar loss adjusted for inflation.
Anyone have any ideas?
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Old Posted Apr 23, 2009, 4:17 AM
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Not sure where it fits, but I believe I read somewhere that pretty much all of the old china town burned down near the turn of the last century following which they moved it to the north side of the CPR tracks
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Old Posted Apr 23, 2009, 4:25 AM
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for dollar amounts, Calgary hailstorms have been some of the most expensive disasters in Canadian history


http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/englis...stats_new.html
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Old Posted Apr 23, 2009, 5:06 AM
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Yep but the cloud seeding will take care of that ever happening again. Albeit it just makes the flash flooding problem worse but not so many people have flood insurance so the government can pay for it.
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Old Posted Apr 23, 2009, 10:45 PM
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In terms of dollar losses, I know a lot of old-time Calgarians who would probably argue that the NEP was the greatest disaster to befall Calgary.
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Old Posted Apr 24, 2009, 2:18 AM
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The Calgary hailstorm in 1991 was by far the worst. At the time it was the worst insurable natural disaster in Canadian history (beating out the Edmonton tornado), but that crown was eventually taken by things such as the Quebec ice storm of the late 90s.

Any time a longtime Calgarian makes some comment about "acts of god" being excluded from insurance coverage, I just ask them if they think Ralph made the hail.
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Old Posted Apr 24, 2009, 3:07 AM
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Would the ice storm in Quebec be a bigger disaster than any of the Red River floods?
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Old Posted Apr 24, 2009, 4:44 AM
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This past winter. Yikes...
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Old Posted Apr 24, 2009, 4:55 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelS View Post
Would the ice storm in Quebec be a bigger disaster than any of the Red River floods?
I don't believe so, but that's why I used the weasel word "insurable". Officially it was much larger in terms of dollar value.

You never really get a good estimate of non-insurable (ie: government paid) disasters. The government usually has an interest in either inflating or deflating the cost, depending on the particular disaster, political climate, popular opinion... plus for any given situation the government has a habit of hiding expenses under other programs. Anything to help the next election, or keep a pet project going, or some other pork-type thing. As opposed to insurance companies that can tell you to the penny exactly how much money was paid out for a given storm.

Also, because so much is not "covered" by government "insurance" - a LOT of things just got thrown out after 1997 in Manitoba. Whereas in Quebec, virtually everything was insured and was therefore included in the calculations.

Lastly, insurance pays a fair replacement value, often with new goods. Flood payments from the government amount to pennies on the dollar for lots of things.

So officially, yes. But those of us who've worked risk management believe otherwise.
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Old Posted Apr 24, 2009, 5:45 AM
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The September 7, 1991 Hailstorm is the biggest in terms of insured dollars. I don't know if there's something that beats it when adjusted for inflation.

For those who weren't in Calgary back then, virtually every single house in the NE (where the storm hit the worst) got new siding and shingles. My parents' house is the only one in the immediate area around it that didn't, and that's only because both the siding and shingles had been replaced less than a year before, and were still pretty flexible. Their new siding was also vinyl, which absorbed some of the hail, whereas almost every other house still had metal siding back then, and became full of dents.

I'm going to remember that storm for a long time.
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Old Posted Apr 25, 2009, 3:42 PM
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Originally Posted by Regulator75 View Post
This past winter. Yikes...

Indeed! And spring too...
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  #12  
Old Posted Apr 26, 2009, 10:07 AM
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The Great Fire of 1886 may be a contender - http://www.google.ca/search?q=calgar...ient=firefox-a

14 buildings destroyed (in a small town) and over $100,000 in damage (which would have been a huge amount back then), but no lives lost.
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Old Posted Apr 26, 2009, 10:14 AM
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Yeah, that would have been pretty signficant at the time.

It's interesting to see the city actually has put up a decade by decade history of the CFD, which is online here.
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Old Posted Apr 27, 2009, 8:53 AM
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Hub Oil in 1999 and the fire at the Statesman project in Erlton in 2002 come to mind as big disasters in Calgary history.
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Old Posted Apr 27, 2009, 3:36 PM
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What about all the flooding and rain a few years back in June? That was pretty significant, not sure about the dollar amounts involved though.
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Old Posted Apr 27, 2009, 6:25 PM
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Quote:
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What about all the flooding and rain a few years back in June? That was pretty significant, not sure about the dollar amounts involved though.
Certainly significant, but when you think about it, it didn't affect a whole lot of area within the city. Also, it's pretty much not insurable damage.
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  #17  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2009, 6:28 PM
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I knew it wouldn't be the largest, but thought it warranted a mention.
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  #18  
Old Posted May 2, 2009, 11:35 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by McMahon View Post
The Great Fire of 1886 may be a contender - http://www.google.ca/search?q=calgar...ient=firefox-a

14 buildings destroyed (in a small town) and over $100,000 in damage (which would have been a huge amount back then), but no lives lost.
Oddly, various inflation calculators indicate $100,000 would be about 2-2 1/2 million in today's dollars. Of course I'm sure the property value has increased many thousands of percent since then so inflation is only part of it.
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Old Posted May 2, 2009, 1:27 PM
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  #20  
Old Posted May 2, 2009, 9:40 PM
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Haha!

I remember maybe 4 years ago there was a crazy hail storm that was centered over Bonavista and Canyon Meadows. At one point I waded out into the street where the hail / water actually came up to my knees to move my car so it wouldn't get flooded.

I also recall some insane flash flood rain thunderstorms appearing out of nowhere when I was driving deerfoot. YOu know it's bad when even with your windshield wipers on full tilt you can;t see out your windows.
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