It is usually easier to determine the cost categories for disasters than it is to determine who will pay for what.  It appears that various Canadian officials are trying to sort it out presently.

Alberta finance minister totes up flood costs in update

Alberta’s finance minister says the bills are coming in for flood recovery in southern Alberta and the price tag is “very high.”Doug Horner says $148 million has been spent so far on flood relief and another $556 million has been allocated for the coming months.

Horner …confirmed Premier Alison Redford’s earlier estimate that the final bill to be shared by insurers and three levels of government will be around $5 billion.“This was an unprecedented disaster and it comes with a very high price tag,” Horner told a news conference. “The June floods precipitated the immediate evacuation of about 100,000 people from their homes (and) more than 14,500 homes have been damaged.”

About $1.7 billion of the $5-billion cost is expected to be covered by insurance companies, he said. The rest will be up to governments, but it hasn’t been determined who owes what.

The final quote in the article gets to a point I made months ago, shortly after the disaster happened and promises were flying!

When the premier promised at the outset to pay every dime of every cost for everybody in the province, I thought it was pretty thoughtless of her.”

Thanks once again to Franklin McDonald, my Canadian contact who forwards news clips about their disasters.