Homes in a southeast Barrie neighbourhood struck by an EF2 tornado this past summer are slowly being repaired, although for some still left out of their homes, it’s just not fast enough.
Kim Ridgers says she waited four months for contractors to tend to her roof. Tarps didn’t adequately protect her house from the elements, allowing water to leak in, likely through the busted up roof and torn off siding, causing further damage, she said.
While the roof is now fixed and a new furnace installed, windows, siding and other work still needs to be done and she’s not expecting to move back in until February at the earliest.
“It’s been very, very slow progress,” Ridgers told BarrieToday.
On July 15, a series of tornadoes struck central Ontario, one of which tore a path through south-end Barrie and Innisfil.
It was later determined there were nine tornadoes in total which cut a northeasterly path from the Barrie area right into Algonquin Park and up on the Ottawa River up near Pembroke, much of it through uninhabited areas.
The great majority of the storm damage was in Barrie, where 10 people were taken to hospital and several more were treated by paramedics. Dozens of structures were damaged or destroyed.
When the tornado made landfall in Barrie, it travelled a total length of 12.46 kilometres, up to 510 metres wide, and at speeds of up to 210 kilometres per hour.
In an updated estimate, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) now pegs the insured damage from 2,200 claims at $100 million, up from the earlier $75-million estimate from the tornado damage in Ontario that day.
By the end of October, 21 of the 70 unsafe orders issued for premises in Barrie were lifted after repairs were done and 47 premises were cleared for occupancy, according to city officials. The city had also issued six demolition permits.
Supply-chain issues resulting from the pandemic and labour shortages have contributed to the delay in repairing the damage and, in some cases, leading to increased costs, said Marie Thomas, IBC’s director of consumer and industry relations for Ontario.
“Resourcing or getting materials is proving to be more difficult as a result of the pandemic,” she said.
Thomas encourages people to keep in touch with their brokers and insurance companies. But the IBC has not fielded a lot of calls from people with concerns, she added.
Anyone looking for answers can contact the consumer information centre at 1-844-227-5422 or go to ibc.ca contact desk link online.
The estimated damage to Ridgers’s house is under $100,000, but she says it's a moving target.
While Ridgers is at the mercy of the pace of the contractors working for the insurance company, any additional issues they find along the way are being covered.
Barrie litigation lawyer Scott Hawryliw says another option when making home-insurance claims is just accepting a payout from the insurance company and having the work done independent of the insurance company.
Going through the insurance company’s contractor means the homeowner doesn’t have to manage the work, which Hawryliw says is more convenient, but means the homeowner loses control of the project.
“The other thing that they sometimes do is take on a whole lot of jobs and get caught with too many balls in the air, especially here because there were so many claims,” which causes delays, he said.
Paul Bradley decided to just take a settlement from his insurance company and do some of the work himself or find his own contractors.
After the severe wind had blown through, Bradley found 15 bins and garbage cans had landed in the backyard of his Monarchy Street home, along with a neighbour’s roof and half of a neighbour’s shed.
Bradley's roof was damaged, a support pillar was struck by a fence post, the patio furniture had smashed into the fence, and the air-conditioner had been “assaulted by a flying recycling bin."
“All that damage but the tomatoes were still on the vines in my garden,” he told BarrieToday.
Recognizing that his damage — estimated at about $40,000 — was fairly minor compared to others and that he could complete some of the work himself, Bradley opted to settle.
“I think I got lucky with both my insurance companies. Plus I did some research before contacting them. Also, I called and emailed them several times to make sure I was getting the right information for them and that they had received it,” he said.
