Insurance won't cover landslide damage on private property
A family living near the shore of Harrison Lake is grateful they weren’t injured when a mudslide roared across their property at the height of last weekend’s intense rainstorm – but they were disappointed to learn their homeowner’s insurance doesn’t cover the cost of cleanup and repairs.
Mervyn Thomas said it was around 5:30 Sunday evening when the slide came down.
“It sounded like a freight train coming through my living room,” he said. “Just rocks crushing and trees snapping and the cracking of the trees is all I could hear. I have never felt that fear for my life, ever. I thought, 'This is the way I’m going out.'”
The slide destroyed two vehicles and a boat, wiped out the carport, damaged portions of the main house and buried the yard under six feet of trees, boulders and mud.
Thomas said ICBC will pay out for the damaged vehicles, but he was dismayed to learn homeowner’s insurance in Canada doesn’t cover landslides – a phenomenon he never imagined could even happen on his property.
“And then when it does, and you find out you don’t have insurance, it’s actually heart-breaking,” he said.
According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, landslide insurance is not something that is even available to homeowners.
“In those cases, if insurance coverage is not available, there are government supports that were announced recently and we encourage people to be exploring those options and to start that application process,” the IBC’s Rob De Pruis said.
The province announced a disaster financial assistance plan this week, which will cover 80 per cent of eligible damage costs up to $300,000 for properties damaged in the storm.
In February 2020, a different atmospheric river dropped more than 100 millimetres of rain in the area, wiping out a kilometre-long section of Rockwell Drive near Thomas’s home, and forcing evacuations.
With so many severe weather events happening in B.C. over the last couple of years, Thomas worries it’s only a matter of time until something similar happens again.
“I’m really concerned about the climate change. We had all the forest fires in the summer, the extreme heat, and now extreme rain,” he said. “It just seems like all the weather has changed and everything is going to the extreme now.”
He estimates cleanup and repairs on his property could cost about $50,000 and he’s not sure yet how much of that might be eligible for coverage under the province’s disaster assistance plan.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.