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July 20 wind storm in Grand Forks leads to insurance claims

There have been insurance-related questions in light of the wind storm that hit Grand Forks on July 20.
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There were a lot of insurance claims in the aftermath of the July 20 wind storm that swept through Grand Forks.

There have been insurance-related questions in light of the wind storm that hit Grand Forks and Scott Moorey, RHC Insurance Brokers Ltd. GM of insurance operations, talked to the Grand Forks Gazette about some.

While it’s difficult for Moorey to comment on specific cases of wind storm-related damage, he was able to speak in generalities.

“Generally speaking (insurance) will cover to remove a tree from the dwelling or building but if the trees are down in the yard, insurance does not cover that due to wind storm,” he said, adding that if a vehicle hit a tree and knocked a tree over, insurance would pay to remove the tree, generally speaking.

“Generally, if a tree lands on a dwelling, the roof damage is covered. If shingles are blown off during a wind storm, insurance generally will cover the replacement of those shingles and or that section of roof. If the branches go through the dwelling in any shape or form, break glass, break siding, it’s the replacement or repair of that damage that the tree has caused,” he said.

There are exceptions to the rule but Moorey said they are not many in number.

He also said that claims can be made for food that was spoiled to due power outages.

“There can be food freezer claims with respect to power outage and generally they’re picked up under the house insurance, out of the contents, subject to your deductible of course,” Moorey said.

“It would be part of the wind storm damage claim if you had other trees down or other damage on the property due to the wind storm.”

Moorey is in Grand Forks for vacation relief at the Grand Forks office and even had first-hand experience of the wind storm.

“I was part of the storm; I was camping at Christina Lake. The storm hit us and branches started hitting our vehicle and RV, so basically we packed up and headed home to Castlegar. Our after hours claims emergency service kicked in and my cellphone started ringing and I started fielding calls,” Moorey said, adding that the Grand Forks office opened on July 21 and it took about 35 calls and another 10 to 20 last week.



Karl Yu

About the Author: Karl Yu

After interning at Vancouver Metro free daily newspaper, I joined Black Press in 2010.
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