When the floodwaters receded from Niagara basements last week, residents thought the hard part was over. But for several, it was only the beginning. Dipping into retirement savings. Dealing with ignored calls. Mounting anxiety.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Much of the damage was immediate and visible. Waterlogged belongings. Ruined flooring. Boxes of memories carried to the curb. Destroyed furniture.<\/p>\n
Some homeowners had insurance coverage, others learned it wasn\u2019t enough. All are anxiously awaiting an assessment of the damage, which may take months to sort out.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Charlotte and Al Hoare stand in their basement that was flooded during the recent rain storms in St. Catharines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Julie Jocsak\/St. Catharines Standard<\/p>\n
Reaching into retirement<\/p>\n
Al and Charlotte Hoare didn\u2019t hear the water coming.<\/p>\n
Their daughter, living back at home temporarily with her son, awoke to the sound of running water.<\/p>\n
When she stepped out of bed, her feet landed in water \u2014 sewage was backing up through the basement drain.<\/p>\n
That was how the Hoares realized the basement of the St. Catharines home they had lived in for 37 years \u2014 without any flooding \u2014 was taking on water.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a nightmare. When it\u2019s happening, you\u2019re in a state of shock. You can\u2019t believe what you\u2019re seeing,\u201d said Al Hoare. \u201cYou grab a shop vac and then you quickly realize there\u2019s no stopping this. It\u2019s coming in so fast, so hard that all you can do is watch and pray that it ends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond housing their daughter, the basement was an often-used living space, with the family\u2019s main television, a brand new sofa set and recliners, surround sound and computer speakers. They had just installed a new water heater and freezer. A few years ago, they also put in a brand new bathroom, at a cost of about $15,000.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Damaged laundry room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Julie Jocsak\/St. Catharines Standard<\/p>\n
After the floodwater left about six inches in their basement, they went into cleanup mode.<\/p>\n
They hired a crew to gut the space, with little left except the walls, which were cut two feet up to dry out the framing. The barnboard walls in the main family room were cut four feet up.<\/p>\n
Al said any hope of restoration is still \u201cquite a ways down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without any direction from insurance, they took photos and attempted to upload descriptions of the damage themselves. With their adjuster on vacation, they reached out to the emergency contact but received no response.<\/p>\n
The Hoares finally received an email a week later, asking them to confirm remediation work was underway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just living in fear at the moment of the next rainstorm because we\u2019re trying to get an inspection on the foundation to determine how serious a problem it is. But we can\u2019t get anybody to even return a phone call,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Al said he has no doubt the $50,000 in coverage won\u2019t be nearly enough to address the structural damage \u2014\u00a0with little expectations their belongings will be covered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be reaching into retirement funds to make up the difference,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully, the insurance company doesn\u2019t try to lowball us, but I won\u2019t know that until they actually pick up a phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Downstairs bathroom had recently been renovated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Julie Jocsak\/St. Catharines Standard<\/p>\n
Starting from scratch<\/p>\n
Having never experienced a flood or filed an insurance claim, Nick LePalud didn\u2019t know what coverage he had or what to do in the aftermath.<\/p>\n
As 8 inches of brown and black water came in from floor and shower drains \u2014 damaging his floors, washer and dryer, freezer, couches and stereo equipment \u2014 everything was unknown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really didn\u2019t know all of the details of what I was covered for. Through the rumour mill, you start to hear all sorts of different things, that you\u2019re covered for this, you\u2019re not covered for that and honestly, I had not educated myself enough to know,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am covered, or at least I believe I am covered. I haven\u2019t heard anything contrary.\u201d<\/p>\n
It took several days to reach his insurance company. The adjuster, based in Edmonton, had no idea what had happened in St. Catharines. LePalud was told to make a list of the damaged items, determine the replacement value and submit the total.<\/p>\n
From hiring a company to strip out the drywall and insulation to taking out the damaged items, everything else was left for him to sort out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve gotten an estimate for the damage which is, with taxes and everything, about $30,000,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve never done this before, I don\u2019t know if they are going to go, \u2018it looks legit, here\u2019s your cheque, less the deductible.\u2019 Or are they going to argue with me on everything?\u201d<\/p>\n
LePalud said he was lucky to handle much of the work himself while waiting to hear back from his insurer. Not everyone was able to do the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy neighbour across the road has been living in a squalor for two weeks (waiting for insurance company),\u201d he said. \u201cFinally, his brother and I had to go down there and start ripping things out because nobody had showed up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reading the fine print<\/p>\n
In both rainstorms, John Habel watched water flood his St. Catharines yard and patio before it travelled into the stairwell leading to his basement. Despite having a drain, it couldn\u2019t handle the volume of water.<\/p>\n
After the first storm, his insurer responded quickly. After the second, Habel spent more than a week unable to reach anyone.<\/p>\n
There has been some movement this week. An adjuster came through and sent a crew to tear out floors and cut into the drywall to determine how high the water damage reached.<\/p>\n
Habel expects his insurance to cover the damage. A few years ago, when a new agent took over, they reviewed the policy in detail. While he doesn\u2019t have flood insurance, living near Lake Ontario, he has overland and sewage backup.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of the furniture is damaged so I\u2019m lucky in that respect. The only thing that was damaged was the floor (and) the carpeting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next problem is going to be trying to get someone to fix this stuff because all the contractors are going to be busy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Covered but not confident<\/p>\n
More than 10 years ago, Joy Stewart-Riffle experienced her first flood. Within days, her insurer and a restoration company were on her doorstep, ready to help. This time, with so many homes affected, everything has been \u201cincredibly delayed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDays into the flood, I still haven\u2019t heard back from the insurance company,\u201d she said. \u201cI knew that I had really good coverage because having been through the experience once, I was damn sure that if I ever had to deal with it again, I was going to have better coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the August rainstorm, her sump pump couldn\u2019t keep up. Clear water began rising through the shower drain and furnace vent pipes \u2014 despite having a backflow preventer and replacing the weeping tile in 2013 \u2014 spraying out \u201clike it was a faucet.\u201d<\/p>\n
About six inches of water drained. But the damage to her refinished basement was done. All appliances and the hot water tank were damaged. She did eventually hear from an adjuster \u2014\u00a0the first based in New Brunswick, a second later out of Calgary \u2014\u00a0but is still waiting to learn the full extent of what needs to be removed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if anybody from insurance is actually going to be able to come through the house before we have to begin tearing out what was downstairs and that worries me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause if the pictures aren\u2019t clear, or if we disagree on something about what the state of the damage was, where do I go? What do I do?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her other concern is the rebuild. Based on her experience, she wants to wait for confirmation there is no evidence of seepage before starting restoration.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But she said her insurer gave her a \u201chard time\u201d last time, pushing to close the claim early.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the payout I got did not cover the rebuild and that\u2019s my primary worry,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to be ready to rebuild in six weeks. That\u2019s just insane to me. I may not be ready to rebuild for six or eight months.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the moment, her house is a \u201ccomplete and total disaster,\u201d with half her basement belongings crammed onto her main floor, a storage box in the driveway. She has coverage, but plenty of unknowns and no shortage of skepticism about how much patience her insurer will have \u2014 or what the claim will do to her premium.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrankly, it\u2019s a lack of confidence or trust in how much protection I actually have from the insurance company,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t always feel like allies. They often feel more like adversaries. I know they\u2019re trying to cut costs, that\u2019s part of their job. But those costs can\u2019t come out of my pocketbook.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the floodwaters receded from Niagara basements last week, residents thought the hard part was over. But for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-860364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}