Really Bad Storm

[Snow Hill Farm]

We had a violent storm today with thunder, lightning, heavy rain, hail and 50 mph winds. I haven't fully walked the bush yet but just from my house I can see at least 10 maples down including 2 that are 24". I'm sure there are a ton more out there. I have a Mini-Farm policy with the Co-Op and was just wondering, has anyone ever got coverage for the time involved in cleaning up the woods and repairing lines? I realize they won't cover trees and do cover lines. Trouble is the lines are all going to be fine but there will be tons of time just cutting fallen limbs and trees to put the system back together. I'll be getting a call back from them tomorrow, what should I expect? I'm guessing nothing but keeping my fingers crossed....

[maple flats]

call your agent. It depends on what you specifically covered. Ask the agent because if you are like me the policies are too confusing and cluttered with legaleeze. Your agent can tell you specifically what is and is not covered. My guess is no but it never hurts to ask.

[driske]

Sorry for your losses, especially the trees. We all know where to buy tubing.
The time invested in nurturing a Sugarbush is not readily replaced.
Certainly ask about filing a claim. My experience with insurance companys has been less than favorable. They sure can seem to find fine print that excludes them from paying .
On a brighter note; 2 of my friends who experienced extensive windstorm damage on their bushes found that the remaining trees responded far better than expected in producing sap, and really picked up the slack.

[SeanD]

Sorry to hear of your losses. Unfortunately, I have a lot of experience with insurance claims. My house was hit by lightning in '07 and then I had a burst washer hose that destroyed the house in '08.

Even if they do cover your losses, it may not be worth it. Each company is different, but after a second claim on your policy, they'll increase your premiums or even drop you. You also need to factor in the deductible. If you have a $500 deductible on a $1,000 claim, you are only getting $500 for your troubles. In the end that may be worth while, but if (God forbid) you have another catastrophe, you could lose coverage or they could increase your premiums so that you are losing in the long run.

My agent gave me this advice after the lightning hit. In the end I decided to eat the loss of about $1,200-$1,500. So when the real stuff hit the fan the next year it was my first and hopefully only claim on the policy.

Do the math on the loss and look into what your deductible is. Talk to your agent to see if this is how his company operates. Good luck.

Sean

[MERIDIAN MAPLES]

I feel your pain. I'm in the process of setting up a new woods right now. We had a storm go through on Tuesday night that took out about 20-30 trees in my woods, and it had to be in the area that I had just installed tubing. I only lost about 10 maples, but they had nice big crowns and where around 18-20" trees. Started cleaning up last night. The trees went down like dominos. Trees had lots of different pressures on them, kept getting saws stuck because of it. There were a few choice words said.

[maplecrest]

happens here all the time and during peak season like this years feb 28 storm. 6 inches snow an hour for 24 hours then high wind. 5 days just with a chainsaw not including the time to find and fix all the leaks after that. take pics and go to your county usda office they will pay a set limit on labor for clean up. but you will be taxed on that payout so i found cheaper to suck it up and get it done. i have trees to go cut up myself today. with sugaring it never ends

[Rhino]

Sorry to hear that, right now in Wis. we had alot of rain the last month and a half and the woods are very wet, I hold my breath when bad storms rumble through because it dosn't take much of a wind right now to uproot the bigger crownd trees. Enough work maintaining lines without having the added work of storm cleanup. hope all goes well and be carefull out there!

[maple flats]

My soil must be better than yours, the only trees I have seen uprooted in my woods or my rented bush are hemlocks which have a very shallow root system. I do get lots of limbs breaking in high winds or heavy snow though. It sucks.

[brookledge]

SeanD
I know what you mean. I think one of the dirty tricks a lot of ins. co.s did after Katrina and the other bad huricanes was to notify thousands of home owners along the coast lines that they were dropping them even though they didn't have a claim. I remember reading an article of a older person who had had the same company for decades and have never had a claim yet they were considered high risk. Seems lie it should be illeagal to drop someone like that after say 30 to 40 yrs without a claim while they took the yearly premium and put it in their pocket.
Keith

[TF Maple]

My soil must be better than yours, the only trees I have seen uprooted in my woods or my rented bush are hemlocks which have a very shallow root system. I do get lots of limbs breaking in high winds or heavy snow though. It sucks.

It is so wet here in Central and Southern Wisconsin I don't think any tree could stay in the ground with a good wind. As I mentioned in another post, for June and first part of July we are 10 inches above normal rainfall. And that was before this week. Tuesday got an inch of rain in 30 minutes. Thursday 1.8 inches in an all day soaker. Last night 1.1 inches.
Walk out into a hay field and the water is a quarter inch deep just sitting on the ground with no place to go all day long.
Did I mention it is really wet here?:lol:

[Rhino]

TFMaple, You guys down south are really getting it i heard, Here up north, our flowages started out anywhere from 6' low to one being 14' low of the high water mark.(Rainbow flowage). Right now most are close to full. Part of my business is installing docks and boat lifts so we are busy adjusting these because of the lakes raiseing. Nice to see the lakes full instead of lots of beach showing but it can stop raining for awhile.

[TapME]

You should have been here for the rain and wind in western Maine and southern Maine. We are not use to this weather here and it has been 3 years in a row for this and it can stop anytime. My rain gauge said 5 inches in 15min.

[driske]

Wow. 5" that fast has to cause some problems, to say the least.
Southern WI has been getting it bad. My cousin down at Oak Creek( just south of Milwaukee) tallied 17" in a 36 hour period. The airport was closed and there was plenty of flood damage.
I'm no fan of AL Gore,(or any politician or that matter). But call it what you will. Global warming, climate change, greenhouse gases, are contributing factors to some freakish weather.
Identifying the problem is clearly easier than solving it. The talking heads and corporate deep pockets have a hard time looking beyond the next campaign contribution.
Biblically we are entreated to be good stewards of the worlds resources. Think globally, act locally.

[Snow Hill Farm]

So I've been talking with my insurance agent (Co-Operative Insurance) and here is what she said...

" I have researched the coverages under your policy. The pipeline is considered “ unscheduled farm personal property”. There is coverage for repair or replacement of the pipeline on an actual cash value basis (depreciated). The limit for UFPP is $15,000, and there is a $1,000 deductible. There is coverage for removal of the trees from the line, but once they are off the line, there is no further coverage (no coverage for cutting them up and disposing of them, and no coverage for replacing them). The cost of removing the trees from the line would be included under the $15,000 limit."

So it looks like I will at least have coverage to get the trees off the lines and repair the lines. Considering I have 40 or more trees down and on lines this will help. I'm glad I made the call.....

[Haynes Forest Products]

Wait till you pay the deductable and then they come out and say cut the lines and pull them out from under the trees and rehook them:mad:

[brookledge]

Snow hill
will they let you do the work or do you have to hire someone to do the work so they can see a bill. I have seen where ins. co. will make it difficult for owner to do the work because they think you are cheating them.
I'd suggest you go out and get estimates from other producers to do the work and then submit them. Then tell your ins co that you will do it for the same price
Keith

[SeanD]

Wow. Forty trees is a lot of trees and a lot of work. Sorry. The up sides are that you are set for firewood for a while and you didn't lose any property, but you are losing time. The insurance company is just going to cut you a check, so like Keith says, get a quote for the tree removal. They need something in writing with a number on it. Then you can decide whether or not you want to pay yourself and spend the time cutting, pay the pro to cut and keep your time, or forget the whole insurance thing and spend your time cutting. Get the hard number from a professional then decide if it's worth it. If you submit the claim and there's more damage than you thought, you can always submit a supplementary claim, but it will still be under your $14K cap.

If the claim is big enough, they may want to have their own guy come out and appraise the damage. Of course it will be much lower than your quote, so that's when all the fun arguing starts. Remember, once you submit the quote or ask to have their guy come out, the claim has been filed and the ball is rolling.

Good luck.
Sean

[driske]

Central WI was the recipient of another 1" of rain last night brought in on 65MPH winds. There's many fields of oats that are too wet and lodged to harvest. I haven't had time or guts enough to enter far into the woods to assess damages there.
The weather man can just keep replaying his broken "Chicken Little" record of how" the sky is falling" Unfortunately for now he is right on with the forecast.

[TF Maple]

The storms were dying out when they got to us, we only got 6 tenths of an inch. Far Northern Wisconsin got 3 to 4 inches in spots. But any amount is too much when the ground is saturated. I still like this better than drought.

[Snow Hill Farm]

I confirmed with my insurance company (Co-op) that I will have some pretty good coverage. Specifically, all removal of trees from the lines and repairing the lines is covered. Good thing because I had a logger look at it and he estimated 70 hours just to remove trees on the lines and hangers above the lines, not take them from the woods (I'll have to do that if I want the fire wood). They are willing to pay me $15/hr plus parts to repair (not bad considering I usually do it on my time) It's definitely worth while to have good insurance, even for a 900 tap bush....

[brookledge]

I'm glad to hear you will be covered. Sort of nice to be paid to do your own work. Just not under those circumstances
Keith

[KenWP]

We have had 5 inchs of rain in the last 2 days here. Trees will blow over like feathers if we get any wind before the ground drys out. Haven't cut a tree yet this year for firewood. Just to busy with critters to get much else done right now. Forest is like a slough right now anyways so can't get to the downfall trees just yet.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Good to have insurance but not if you rates will increase over a small claim like that. I know 70 hours is a lot of labor, but if you rates go up the next 3 to 5 years, it won't be worth it, especially if you have a very large claim down the road.

Also, if you have a deductible, the payment will be made for anything above it.

[Dill]

Wow, I have to say I'm impressed. I'm an agent with CO-OP and I was going to tell you that lines are not covered. :lol:
Evaporator, sugar house, buckets etc. but lines and fencing are usually not, nor are trees that don't fall on your house or driveway. But with CO-OP I always tell people to file a claim. What's the worst that can happen they say no? The only claim that is never paid is the one that is never submitted.

[Rhino]

Last Saturday night Tomahawk got just a tad over 4 inches of rain!! Last night we got some more. Some of our bear baits are on county land and one rule they have is......If you run a 4-wheeler on county land you cannot rut any of the logging roads you are useing otherwise the county rec. officer can ticket you. Its getting to the point that we have to really be careful. Never seen so much standing water in the woods, and the bugs are brutal. This Friday night they are predicting strong storms again. wild weather this summer.