The impact of the July 22nd hail storm in Moose Jaw will continue to be felt for months - that's why it's number five on our list of the top five local stories of 2016.

Local insurance brokers have stayed busy dealing with the over 5,000 claims since the July 22nd event broke windows, smashed shingles and wrecked vehicles on Moose Jaw's north end.

According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, the claims were worth worth close to $71-million.  

The storm turned local insurance brokers into clients.

"We had a claim on our home and we also had two auto claims," said Henderson Insurance CEO Dave Reidy. "All of our staff are extremely busy with July 22 claims, and whether they are their own or whether it's their clients, it certainly was a large event for Moose Jaw."

Reidy says it may take until 2018 before all claims are processed and victims have insurance repairs completed.

"It turned the tables on us," said Reidy in regards to the volume of claims. "It's kind of the new normal...there are some claims that have been settled but the majority, I imagine, are going to get pushed into next summer."

Reidy says that although he was in high school at the time, he remembers how busy the family insurance company was in 1989 when a massive hail storm hit Moose Jaw's south hill.  By comparison, he believes this summer's storm made a bigger impact.

"From what I understand in speaking with SGI this has far surpassed 1989, so certainly it's likely the largest (insurance claim) event of the last fifty years in Moose Jaw."

"This will be a record year for insured losses, taking into account Fort McMurray (fire) as well, there will be over 4.5 billion in insured losses this year and that will set a Canadian record." explained Insurance Bureau of Canada Spokesperson Aaron Sutherland.

Sutherland believes climate change has played a major role in the growing number of weather-related claims in the last decade, taking annual storm claims in Canada from the hundreds of millions of dollars, to over a billion dollars every year since 2009.

Reidy says that whatever the reason behind it, he does agree that they have noticed a change in weather patterns causing more frequent damage.

"Some of the water claims, and even the fire in Fort McMurray...it is fire, but essentiallly it is weather because it's weather patterns that lead to it, with the dryness and everything else," said Reidy. "There are once in fifty year events and once in a hundred year events that are happening every year."

Sutherland says it may take time, but insurance customers may see rising premiums as a result. "As we see events happening more and more often, that does put pressure on premiums."

"You're starting to see it already," explained Reidy. "There's been a significant amount of change to water coverages and how companies handle (those) and certainly I would think that the majority of homeowners in Moose Jaw have seen fairly dramatic increases in their rates over the last few years."