Homes damaged by floods could be renovated to withstand future flooding. So why aren't they?

Soggy andstained 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 damagedhomes as close to their original condition as possible,said Bernard Deschamps, who worked in the insurance industry for 35 years.

But now Deschampsand other expertssay that's not good enough we need to build back better to prevent future damage, andinsurance companies and governments canhelpor 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.

Hesaysthe principle of "identical reconstruction"is part of many insurance regulations. The idea was to prevent homeowners from upgrading their homes at the insurance company's expense.

"That makes sense if it's a one-time event," said Deschamps, but he noted that itrisks "simply putting people back in the same situation."

He saysit makes no sense for people who mightexperiencerepeat flooding something that's happening more and more as climate change increases flood risks from heavy rains and higher sea levels, alongside aging infrastructure and increasing urbanization.

Craig Stewart, vice-president of climate change and federal issues for the Insurance Bureau of Canada, sayssome places that once had major floods every 100 or 200 years "are now flooding a couple of times a decade."

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That's led to a huge increase in insurance claims. This year has broken records, with $7.7 billion in claims due to severe weather by the end of September and three months left to go in the year.

Flooding in southern Ontario ($940 million) and Quebec ($2.5 billion) accounted for 45 per cent of those claims, IBC reported.

Stewart saysinsurers are starting to realize there's a problem with restoring or rebuilding homes to the way they were before.

"There's definitely a need to start helping homeowners be more resilient," he said.

Incentives tobuild back better

Stewart saysfive of eight major insurers in Canada now offer incentives for homeowners to build back better.

For example, they might give homeowners an extra 10 per cent on top of what it would cost to restore their home to its original condition if they rebuild using more resilient materials, such as water-resistant flooring, drywall, or insulation.

Deschamps says thatin many cases, homeowners can significantly reduce potential future flood damage by making bigger changes, such as moving the electrical panel from the basement to the first floor.

But he noted that homeowners often don't know what renovationswould make a home more flood resilient, and even if they did, thoserenosmay cost significantly more than simply returning the house to its previous condition, so there's little incentive to go beyond that.

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The case of a Chateauguay, Que., man who saw his basement flood in the spring of 2023 is a stark example of how some homeowners are being forced to pay up even when they were insured and prepared for flooding.

More stringent standards needed

Deschampsthinks such incentives need to come from both insurance companies and the government.

On the government side, he suggests passing new bylaws that require more stringent standards for reconstruction after a flood.

So far, he says, "that's not happening."

He suggests it's difficult for governments to impose measures that could increase the cost of construction or reconstruction, which likely wouldn't bepopular with voters.

Stewart notesthere have been some examples of governments requiring certain types of rebuilding in order to access disaster relief funds.

He cited a case a few years ago wherehomeowners along the Ottawa River were told they needed to elevate their homes when rebuilding, and says the insurance industry sees such stipulations as "a good thing" because they reduce risk.

Some municipalities have also started to ban or restrict basements the most flood-prone part of a home as living spaces in flood-prone areas.

Stewart said the insurance industry calling on governments "to do much more and to come up with some sort of action plan on how we're going to reduce risk."

Regardless of whether you're building back after a flood or preparing for the future, many municipal governments do have some programs to incentivize flood resilience.

Blair Feltmate, head of the Intact Centre for Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo,sayshis research shows roughly 80 per cent of major communities across Canada offer subsidies for installing backwater valves to prevent sewage backups during storms something fewerthan onein 10 households in those communities have taken advantage of.

Feltmatealso notes that some insurance companies nowoffer their own subsidies for installation of backwater valves and other flood prevention measures, such as sump pumps with battery backup and window well covers.

As well, he says insurers offerowners who've installed these preventative measures a five to 15 per cent reduction in insurance premiums.

Resilience programs for other disasters

There may also be home resilience programs for other kinds of disasters.

In Alberta, some insurance companies have hired Montana-based Wildfire Defense Systems to reduce the risk of damage to clients' homes from wildfires. WDS goes into at-risk communities and moves patio furniture away from walls, cleans out gutters and sets up sprinklers.

Feltmate noted that claims from major disasters and weather events are growing exponentially. Already, onein 10 homes are at such high risk that they're effectively "uninsurable" for flooding, IBC says.

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Belle River resident Joel Simpkins explains what he did after his basement flooded. He is also calling on the municipality of Lakeshore to do more to prevent further flooding.

Feltmate says insurers are realizing that in orderto have customers to sell insurance to in the future, "we need to get all the risk out of the system that we can." That means both incentivizing homeowners to mitigate flood risk and rewarding them for doing so.

The Intact Centre for Climate Adaptation offers multiple fact sheets and how-to videos for ways to protect your home from flooding.

• N.B. flood mapping allows homeowners,buyers to better protect themselves from flooding

The good news, according to Feltmate,is that building back better and making a home flood resilient is possible.

"Just because a home has had a flood, that doesn't mean that it has to be a flood-prone home in perpetuity," he said. "You can act proactively to protect the property from flood risk."