The insurance carrier with which we have our car and household insurance sent along a letter to all its clients a few weeks back. The letter described the insurance industry's consternation over the large claims being made for household damage due to water leakage.

It made mention of changing environmental episodes resulting in far more serious weather events that leave fearsome property damage in their wake, to public and private property. The letter described far more violent and changing environmental conditions; hurricane-force winds, heavier rains, resulting in tornadoes, hurricanes and torrential rain events causing widespread floods.

We know about all of this, of course, because it is all reported, voluminously, in the news media. Stories revolving around countries being inundated by cyclones, tsunamis, tornadoes and having to cope with truly monumental weather-caused catastrophes. Beyond what has occurred repeatedly in countries like Pakistan, India, Thailand, leaving countless people flood-stricken and homeless, refugees in their own countries, Canada too has experienced severe flooding events - in Manitoba and elsewhere.

On a smaller, no less destructive scale, floods and damaging water leakage occur closer to home, and they cause anguish to those whose properties are destroyed. Municipalities are faced with the reality that they must begin upgrading their sewer systems to accommodate the needs of larger populations and more extreme weather conditions. And the insurance industry is left holding the bag for restitution for their policy holders.

So they've undertaken an initiative, to educate policy holders about what they can do, small things like checking to ensure things are in good order, cleaning out areas like eavestroughs that require attention, sloping earthworks away from a house, as well as asking permission to enter peoples' homes to install small monitoring and prevention devices.

We had one such visit this morning. A technician employed by our insurance company installed a few preventive/monitoring devices, starting with the laundry room; explained their purpose, and leaving us slightly better equipped to deal with any potential water-flooding emergencies.