Alberta Flood Watch 2013

[Tailgator]

Was down there on Saturday and it was really, really brutal to see. I helped it Bowness as well and this was worse, I think and on a larger scale. The guy whose house I was working on showed me this Acura wedged up agains his fence (waht was left of his fence) and his garage. He's not aware of anyone around him who owns it and has no idea how far it came. The road into HR is really hard to describe, but the damage to homes, businesses, vehicles and infrastructure is massive. There seemed to be a lot of volunteers, but, wow, is there a long way to go.....

[Redliner]

My wife and I took turns volunteering in High River this weekend - she went Saturday and I went Sunday. I had been down to Mission a couple times to help out so I was somewhat prepared for the devastation, but she was shocked to the point of tears. That town, for all intents and purposes, has been destroyed. It's worse than Calgary because here in the city even in the communities that were hit hard there were lots of people nearby who were unaffected and were in a position to provide immediate help. In High River the whole town has felt the impact of the flood. I spent most of the day down there, helped clean out 4 houses, and when I left it felt like we hadn't even scratched the surface. There is just so much damage - people down there are going to need help for weeks, if not months.

At one of the houses we helped out, I started talking to a guy who turned out to be a friend of the homeowner. He lives (lived) in the NE part of High River and his house is still underwater, they are telling him it will be 3 weeks minimum before he can get in - IF he can get in. Chances are his home will be condemned and he won't be allowed inside, even though many of his family's valuables are up on the 2nd floor and should be dry. He was telling me there are stories coming out now of flooded homes collapsing internally - in newer build houses that used particle board engineered floor joists and were submerged, the soaked joists have disintegrated and any heavy items on the main floor like fridges and stoves, or counters with granite counter tops, have fallen through the floor into the basement. Pretty tough to keep your game face on and try to offer encouragement when you offer to help the guy out and he looks at you and says "thanks, but I'm going to need a bulldozer, not a shovel."

For anyone who can volunteer, even if it's only for a few hours, you are needed in High River.

[Minnie]

Way way back in this thread, someone asked about how much of people's yards were washed away, along Cougar Creek. Town of Canmore posted these today:

Before flood:




After flood:

[I-Hate-Hulse]

TD claims they will cover sewer backup now.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/al...645/story.html

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

TD claims they will cover sewer backup now.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/al...645/story.html

Wow, dragged kicking and screaming into the right thing. The very last major insurer to step up, and only after every other guy stepped up.

I have more to share, but will be waiting to get that check from them before commenting further. I'll leave it at this, They have put me and my wife through some of the worst agony ever, and it's going to be hard to forget how we were treated.

[Violator]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

TD claims they will cover sewer backup now.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/al...645/story.html

wondered why I saw TD bank vans driving around with community support decals on them

[Raekwon]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

Wow, dragged kicking and screaming into the right thing. The very last major insurer to step up, and only after every other guy stepped up.

I have more to share, but will be waiting to get that check from them before commenting further. I'll leave it at this, They have put me and my wife through some of the worst agony ever, and it's going to be hard to forget how we were treated.

Why is it the right thing? The thing with AMA and TD was that their policies clearly state they do not cover sewer backup as the result of overland flooding. Everyone thinks its the right thing to do but then complains when their premiums increase next year. Government funding was setup for this very reason.

Other companies such as Wawanesa do not have this wording in their policy and cover sewer backup regardless but now they are being bullied into covering flood claims with legal threats again raising everyones premiums next year.

I feel really bad for everyone affected by the floods but people need to start learning what their insurance does instead of just being something they know they need. I think that insurance companies should just cover overland flooding at an increased cost to get rid of this blurred line.

[Bigtime]

I'm still waiting for word from AMA, complete radio silence from them. Despite many calls and emails to my contacts.

I just want an answer at this point, have the decency to at least return my call.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by Raekwon

Why is it the right thing? The thing with AMA and TD was that their policies clearly state they do not cover sewer backup as the result of overland flooding. Everyone thinks its the right thing to do but then complains when their premiums increase next year. Government funding was setup for this very reason.

Other companies such as Wawanesa do not have this wording in their policy and cover sewer backup regardless but now they are being bullied into covering flood claims with legal threats again raising everyones premiums next year.

I feel really bad for everyone affected by the floods but people need to start learning what their insurance does instead of just being something they know they need. I think that insurance companies should just cover overland flooding at an increased cost to get rid of this blurred line.

I'm sure they weighed the economics of it.

On one hand, they're getting pulverized in the community on the public relations front and could well lose current or future business by continuing to refuse claims they have every right to refuse.

On the other hand, the total dollar amount of claims they might have to pay out could be just a token on their balance sheet.

As the problem moved further up the internal food chain, upper management made a business decision. They decided its not worth loss of reputation or potential of lost business to fight the tide.

Secondly, if you're going to do it, its better to be the first to decide instead of the last. Royal Bank was the first. TD shouldn't have been so slow.

We've seen periodic examples of this before. About a decade ago, a police officer was killed in the line of duty. On his mortgage documentation, he had deliberately made a choice to tick off a box refusing insurance on his mortgage in the event of his death. So he dies and the widow is stuck with a large mortgage. The police union goes to the press on her behalf, crying about the heartlessness of banks, all heck breaks loose and the bank starts losing revenge business overnight. In a day or two, the bank decides to honour a roughly $200,000 mortgage payout. They didn't have to, but it was simply a business decision. The union probably did a good job getting a good result for the grieving widow.

Its actually unfair to the banks/insurance companies. Call it a forced donation in the face of catastrophe.

Cowperson

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by Raekwon

Why is it the right thing? The thing with AMA and TD was that their policies clearly state they do not cover sewer backup as the result of overland flooding. Everyone thinks its the right thing to do but then complains when their premiums increase next year. Government funding was setup for this very reason.

Other companies such as Wawanesa do not have this wording in their policy and cover sewer backup regardless but now they are being bullied into covering flood claims with legal threats again raising everyones premiums next year.

I feel really bad for everyone affected by the floods but people need to start learning what their insurance does instead of just being something they know they need. I think that insurance companies should just cover overland flooding at an increased cost to get rid of this blurred line.

Because I had sewer backup in my basement, not flood water. No flood water entered my house at any time via windows or doors. This was confirmed by not one but two adjusters they sent to find some way to deny me, but they couldn't.

East Sunnyside was all sewer backup it was obvious to the adjuster from Intact and Co-operators all who approved my neighbors in minutes. TD told my wife literally "Don't bother filing a claim we are not covering any of this since we are calling it a flood"

Your right, basically the flood could cause them to cancel all policies, due to article 39 that states "direct or indirect flooding". Do you know how broad that interpretation is? So broad that the lawyers our street has consulted with has said it has no legs to stand up on in court. Hence why they tried but are now backing down on denying our claims.

So you tell me if it is the right thing, and tell me I should read my policy. I have read it front to back and discussed with lawyers who claim TD knew they have no leg to stand on but are going to try anyways.

The problem here is you are lumping my situation in with people in other parts of the city, and even high river. They are totally different. I had no flood water, many of them did. Yet TD tried to do what you are doing, lumping us all together and denying the legitimate claims to save money. It was only after all their peers did the right thing did they do the about face.

So if you ever find yourself with a legitimate claim, that the insurance company denies, lets talk. Maybe then you can start to understand what my family has been through getting twisted around the last two and a half weeks for no legitimate reason.

On the side, would you rather I take the gov't money? Is that better? Where do you think that money comes from? Your going to pay it one way or another at least it should probably come from the company who should pay it, and is making record profits. Then my gov't money can be passed to the uninsured who really need it.

[woob]

Originally Posted by fotze

I wonder if WHO the folks that were flooded mattered. The one guy on the news was a CFO of some oil company. I know if I got "screwed" by the insurance company and my job consisted of finding 100's of millions of dollars of financing from places like RBC, it wouldn't be too hard to "change company direction" toward some other outfit.

Our CEO got flooded. I am sure he would be quite influential on who to purchase blowout insurance, and all the other big stuff.

Actually, thinking of this more, I have little doubt this is why they changed direction. Some latte sipping pechuli sniffers from Sunnyside like big time, who cares, some CEO's in Rideau Park, lets give them cash.

I am quite surprised an insurance company changed direction, they never do that, unless its the most influential people who are banging down the door.

I think you're bang on. Some of the bigwigs in Rideau, etc probably got told no, so they turned around and said OK, tomorrow my company is looking somewhere else for insurance. This probably happened X amount of times before the Insurance companies/Banks started looking at the numbers and backtracking.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by fotze

Actually, thinking of this more, I have little doubt this is why they changed direction. Some latte sipping pechuli sniffers from Sunnyside like big time, who cares, some CEO's in Rideau Park, lets give them cash.

I am quite surprised an insurance company changed direction, they never do that, unless its the most influential people who are banging down the door.

We got word last night TD was covering everyone hours before the press got the story published. I asked my neighbor how he found out, he said his wife was in Elbow Park and the announcement was made at a meeting there by Jim Dinning.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by fotze

Actually, thinking of this more, I have little doubt this is why they changed direction. Some latte sipping pechuli sniffers from Sunnyside like big time, who cares, some CEO's in Rideau Park, lets give them cash.

Hey now, it's one word. Bigtime.

[nik-]

umm ... it's patchouli. Get it right fotze.

GOD

[Burninator]

"direct or indirect flooding" What is indirect flooding?

[Canehdianman]

The insurance companies are just going to get mandated 20% increases in auto premiums next year. They will claim that they are needed because they all lost money last year (after paying out bonuses to everyone).

Enjoy your new basement, my latte sipping friends.

[Top Shelf]

Just received this sad email from the Zoo.

http://thecalgaryzoo.cmail5.com/t/Vi...40EF23F30FEDED

South America Building Closes Permanently

We are sad to deliver this news today to our members. Although these are difficult days for the zoo, please be assured we are working to rebuild the zoo as quickly as possible. Unfortunately we have to make some tough decisions but these are made with our animals' welfare as our top priority.

Announcement

The Calgary Zoo announced today that it will begin to move animals to other institutions on a permanent basis beginning as early as next week.

Recent flooding caused extensive damage across the zoo's 32-acre island. The South America building is one of the oldest facilities at the zoo and was one of the hardest hit in the flood. Dr. Clément Lanthier, zoo president and CEO, said the damage to the building and its systems is so extensive that it has been determined that it makes no sense to invest very limited resources in its repair.

"Sadly this means we have to quickly find new homes for the 34 individual animals representing 11 species that were housed in this building," said Dr. Lanthier. "We know people will be sad that these animals are leaving us, but we need to think of their welfare and we simply can't provide for their long-term needs in the foreseeable future."

The animals from the South American building will be relocated to new homes. While exact locations are being finalized, the zoo expects the animals to begin moving within the next two weeks. These animals include:

2 Hyacinth macaws
7 Yellow-headed Amazon parrots
2 Prehensile-tailed porcupines
2 Two-toes sloths
2 Giant anteaters
2 Andean condors
5 Goeldi's monkeys
3 Cotton-topped tamarins
2 White-handed gibbons
4 Black-handed spider moneys
3 Debrazza monkeys
Prior to the flood, the zoo was looking for new homes for one white stork, one Parma wallaby, two black swans and seven Rock hyraxes--that search is ongoing and these animals will also be transferred to other facilities as soon as possible. This brings the total of animals to be moved to 45 individuals representing 15 species.

"This is the sad reality that we face - the Calgary Zoo has been forever changed by the flood on June 21st," concluded Lanthier. "But with the support of our community, we will eventually be able to replace these ruined facilities and create a new Calgary Zoo that is even better than before."



We thank you for your continued support during this challenging time. Our systems are still taking some time to re-activate so we can renew memberships and we are planning to look at membership extentions once we re-open. To make donations to the zoo, please see Canadahelps.or the zoo's website.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Oh man that's terrible. As much as I really like the new buildings the zoo has put up over the years, the older ones have sooo much nostalgia for me. I went through some of them when I was in grade 5

Really sad.....

[MrMastodonFarm]

That sucks... they were hit harder then I think anyone could have imagined.

Losing those animals that they've cared for over the years must be such a huge blow and it means less keepers when they open up again.

Brutal for the Calgary Zoo.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Brutal for the Calgary Zoo.

And for the city! I'm not really sure how ours stacked up to other zoos around the world but I always thought it was pretty top notch, especially with the work they've put into upgrades over the years.

I really hope they can bounce back, would be a real shame if this lasted long term. Such a great place to spend a hot summer day.