Romina Maurino, THE CANADIAN PRESS

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TORONTO - Homeowners, businesses and insurance companies were tallying the damage Monday after a massive propane explosion in Toronto over the weekend that could wind up costing millions of dollars in damage and lost business.

While it's still too soon to estimate exactly how much the cleanup will cost, the pricetag will likely run in the millions of dollars from damaged homes and companies, retail shutdowns and other interruptions caused by the explosion.

The blast at Sunrise Propane Industrial gases early Sunday morning forced the evacuation of a neighbourhood that houses about 12,000 people and several businesses.

Brenda Rose, broker and vice-president at Firstbrook Cassie and Anderson in Toronto, said insured residents will likely recoup their losses from damage to homes and businesses, since standard insurance policies will cover destruction from an explosion.

"Fire, explosion - those are fundamentals," she said, noting that the magnitude of the damage is unlikely to be known until the claims made to individual insurance companies are tallied.

Gordon Rasbach, vice-president of TD Insurance, said that a typical damage claim for such circumstances would probably be around $5,000, although the exact amount is hard to pinpoint because there are several factors playing into each individual case.

"The typical damage in this instance would be cracked interior or plaster or drywall, glass and potentially even contents that are damaged as a result of shifting," he said.

"It's the impact of the explosion and then the resulting damage that comes from the impact."

Police said Monday that 50 people among the thousands who fled a massive propane explosion couldn't immediately return to the northwest Toronto neighbourhood because of "significant damage" to their homes.

While the buildings are standing, police said, siding has been ripped off, and windows smashed. City officials say about 100 houses near the site of the propane explosion cannot be safely entered because of asbestos residue, while six damaged homes are structurally unsafe and will have to be assessed by engineers.

"There's also the question of how much of the damage was insured - apparently there are quite a few renters in the neighbourhood and many of them did not have tenants' insurance," said James Geuzebroek, a spokesman with the Insurance Bureau of Canada, the national trade association of the country's property and casualty insurance industry.

On the business side, Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.A), Canada's only aircraft maker, cancelled the early shift at its airplane plant in northwestern Toronto.

The production facility was fully operational Monday evening.

Both production and office employees were asked to report to work.

The company said it was still assessing the damage and does not yet have a value.

Company spokesman John Arnone said the damage was primarily broken windows, debris and buckled doors.

It's unknown whether Bombardier had business interruption insurance to cover any losses from the plant shutdown.

Geuzebroek said the IBC wasn't yet sure about how other many businesses had been affected, but noted that insurance representatives dealing with area residents haven't encountered business owners looking for answers - just homeowners and tenants.

Tenants lacking renters' insurance won't be able to recover any belongings damaged as a result of the explosion.

Business owners, however, will be covered on any property damage under their plans, and many are likely to have business interruption coverage.

"For as long as you can't operate and you're not making the money that you would normally make, there's insurance coverage for that," Geuzebroek said.

Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers' Association of Canada, said residents affected by the explosion should put in their insurance claims immediately.

"It's too late after the event to adjust your coverage to cover that sort of thing, but the main thing is to get the claim in and hear what your personal situation is from your insurance company," Cran said

"In the meantime, you've got to look after yourself as if you were not insured and you've got to make sure that any damages are mitigated by any actions you can take."

The city has launched a review of all areas that could pose a potential hazard to nearby homes in the wake of the explosion, to see if similar risks exist elsewhere in Toronto.