Out on a limb: Beltrami County residents navigate insurance claims caused by fallen trees
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About a month after a devastating storm tore through Beltrami County, residents are still working to sort out damage tallies and what insurance will and won’t cover.
The storm cell, which the National Weather Service now calls a “microburst,” created a 10-mile swath of destructive straight-lined winds reaching speeds as high as a 120 mph, equal to a Category 3 hurricane.
The storms caused millions of dollars worth of damage to public and private property and downed millions of trees throughout the county.
In Bemidji those downed trees are causing some big headaches for cleanup efforts and insurance claims.
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U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar recently met with local leaders there to view the storm’s aftermath as well as to get a progress update on relief efforts. During her visit Sen. Klobuchar toured the area east of Lake Bemidji which had some of the most profound destruction. It's also where Gov. Tim Walz made a stop last month with other officials.
"I'm just astounded by how much damage there is and the progress that they have made here in Bemidji to clean things up,” Klobuchar said. “And it's still a long road ahead, but to think that 9 million trees have been lost, so many homes damaged, nearly every home suffering some damage."
There are still piles of downed timber lying on people’s properties, as well as long uprooted stumps with exposed roots visible. The fallen trees have also wreaked havoc on Bemidji’s infrastructure causing damage to roads, signs and powerlines. And the debris can clog sewer drains, increasing the risk of flooding. It was also a factor in the city’s dumps operating at near capacity for weeks.
Dan Bryden is the enforcement division director at the Minnesota Department of Commerce. He said fallen trees can be a gray zone for a homeowner’s insurance coverage.
"With wind damage, a common issue that we see is tree removal,” Bryden said. “So, if a tree falls down on your property, there may or there may not be coverage, depending on where the tree falls."
Bryden’s agency recently held a two-day public meeting in Bemidji where community members affected by the storm could receive expert insurance advice on things like filing a claim to resolving a dispute between the policy holder and their provider. He said it gets complicated quickly when trees are involved.
"So, if the tree is on your fence or it's on your house, or it's on your garage or it's on another structure, then your insurance is likely to cover the removal of that tree from your property,” Bryden said. “However, if the tree is not laying on one of the structures on your property there may not be coverage for removing that tree."
With extreme weather happening all over the state, he said it's more important now than ever to review what's covered in every homeowner's insurance policy.
"I would encourage people to understand that the risk of severe weather in Minnesota is real, and it's gotten worse over the past 20 years,” he said. “There are more severe storms in the state than there used to be."
Bryden also added that it’s common for predatory contractors to show up at people’s homes after a big weather event hoping to do cleanup. He said sometimes they come to Minnesota from as far away as Texas, and people need to be on guard.
"I would encourage people to talk to your insurance company before you pay a contractor a hefty price to remove debris like a tree from your property,” he said. “Which is a big part of what we saw In Bemidji."
Bryden suggested that homeowners ensure any contractors they do business with are licensed in the state through the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. He said those licenses can be verified through the department’s website.
Lois Pfeffer has been trying to vet some of those contractors’ bids. The day after the storm passed, they knocked on her door, and some left business cards in the mailbox and outside her home, where she lost hundreds of trees.
“The first guy that stopped by looking at the house, it's like, ‘Well, you know, $10,000 I can get this tree off your house tonight,’” she said. “I was like, ‘I need to hear back from my insurance.’ Because it just seemed a little unreasonable and kind of sketchy."
Pfeffer’s now trying to navigate the specifics of her policy. In hindsight she wishes she had policies that covered not just her house but also her yard and her “plantation,” which is a grove of trees that’s attached to the property.
"Once upon a time there were 50-year-old red pine trees. And there was about 225-250 of them in my backyard. And it was a really nice vegetative screening and offered a lot of morning shade. It was just wonderful,” Pfeffer said. “After this storm. There were two leaning trees that were going to fall over. And so, like it was lost."
Pfeffer said she has no idea how much it’s going to cost to get all those trees cleared from her plantation, but she expects it will be expensive. In the meantime, she just wants to have repairs finished on her home by sometime in September before the start of winter.
Christopher Muller is the county’s emergency management director. He said it’s their goal to “get the community restored and get resources back to our citizens.” But he said they do not have any resources that go directly to the residents for home repair or anything of that nature. However, Muller said the county is working with the United Way of Bemidji and another nonprofit to identify some limited resources that might offer aid.
“If residents in Beltrami County are experiencing hardship or need additional answers, contact Community Resource Connections,” he said. “I just want to emphasize that they don't have a significant amount of resources that would benefit directly to the residents.”
