The ice storm that struck Ontario and Quebec between March 28th and 31st, is estimated to have resulted in an insurance industry loss of CAD $342 million, according to CatIQ, Canada’s insured loss and exposure indices provider.This is just an initial insurance industry loss estimate from CatIQ as well, meaning there will likely be some creep at least over the coming weeks and months.CatIQ has confirmed that a second market loss update, aligned with the company’s reporting schedule, will be released on May 15th, 2025, 45 days after the event end date.In late March 2025, the storm system tracked over the Great Lakes as the jet stream shifted towards its typical northern, warm-season position.

Two low-pressure systems brought a surge of milder air into conflict with the colder air at the surface over central and southeastern Ontario and southern Quebec, which resulted in prolonged periods of freezing rain from March 28th to 31st, 2025.The hardest-hit areas were located towards the north and northeast of Toronto, particularly the elevated terrain of the Kawarthas, Muskoka, and Haliburton regions, where some locations recorded up to 35 hours of freezing rain, with significant ice accretion – up to 25mm in Lindsay and Peterborough and 20mm in Ontario.In Quebec, Québec City was subjected to roughly 12 hours of freezing rain, while Montreal and Trois-Rivières experienced about eight hours.

It’s important to highlight that both southeastern Ontario and southern Quebec are frequently impacted by ice storms, with one of the most severe events in Canadian history occurring in 1998.April is also a common month for ice events across the Lower Great Lakes and St.Lawrence regions, with two significant storms occurring in April 2018 and 2023.

CatIQ previously recorded major ice storm events in 2013 and 2016 in this region too.“While the loss figures for this event and the 2023 storm are remarkably similar, the details paint a different picture of the impacts.In particular, the average personal claim for this storm is approximately CAD 24,000, whereas in 2023 it was closer to CAD 13,000.

A possible factor in this is the duration of the power outages; the event in March heavily impacted relatively remote areas, making access difficult for restoration crews,” commented Laura Twidle, President and CEO of CatIQ.Twidle added: “Even for a region prone to ice events, the prolonged duration of the freezing rain made this storm particularly impactful to local infrastructure, with nearly 2,000 broken power poles identified.” Concluding: “More than 100,000 Hydro customers in Ontario were without power for days, and a portion of these outages continued for several weeks, meaning the storm caused not only significant physical damage to properties, but also widespread business interruption and the loss of frozen and refrigerated items.”.All of our Artemis Live insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bonds and reinsurance can be accessed online.

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