  Severe windstorms pose threats to people, human-made structures, and the
environment. An investigation of insured losses caused by windstorms is a
multipurpose study that serves to advance the resilience and sustainability of
modern communities. The present study proposes a systematic analysis of insured
losses imposed by different types of windstorms in two Canadian provinces,
Ontario (ON) and Quebec (QC), during the period 2008-2021. Actual wind damage
data from the Canadian insurance market were considered in this study. Our
calculations show that ON and QC received half of all wind catastrophes across
Canada, and nearly three-quarters of all types of catastrophes in ON and QC
were wind-related ones. The total windstorm loss of over CA$5.2 billion was not
evenly distributed between QC and ON, but rather had a QC:ON ratio of 1:3.1. We
attributed this discrepancy in the inflicted damage between two provinces to
the predominantly eastward and northeastward storm trajectories and the higher
density of wealth and population in ON. Convective storms were the most
devastating wind type comprising nearly 65% and 67% of the total number of
events and associated damage, respectively. Finally, tornadoes had the highest
average loss per event in two provinces combined. Future prospects and the
implication of this research are also discussed.
