Tornado briefly hit us...

Agreed. Insurance is a legalized scam imo. They're crooks.

 

I've been in buildings hit by two different small tornados when we lived in Indiana, one was at work, the other at home. The only hurricane I've dealt directly with was Harvey and the flooding it brought with it. Sorry, but I disagree, I'll take another tornado over a hurricane.

Sounds weird, but here's why; hurricanes torment you for days - whether they directly hit your area or not. And if they do, cleanup takes forever. Flood/water damage is the worst. Even if they miss you, people are acting batshit crazy - buying all the milk and bread even though they never eat/drink milk and bread! Good luck finding gas. Even a near miss significantly impacts your daily life for a week or two. At least a tornado is quick and usually impacts a smaller area - they generally miss more than they hit. There are exceptions (like the tornado that took out Joplin, MO a little over a decade ago).

Funny, Indiana isn't generally the first state that comes to mind regarding tornados. I grew up in KS and only lived in IN for 11 years - got hit twice there but never even a close call when in KS.

Glad you're OK and damage was minimal.

 

Well I'll take your canes and you can have my nadoes

 

That's a Deal!

 

To close the book on this saga, we came home from hanging out at my mother's (and visiting our kiddo) to see lights on in our driveway. What a break! Was getting quite frustrated as houses all around us had power except us...next door neighbor, house across the street, house next to that one, etc.

The provider's app kept saying we had power and we didn't. The neighbors without power had similar complaints. New poles were up, new lines...anyway, we are thanking the likes of Nikola, Thomas, and Benjamin right now.

You never appreciate the creature comforts until they're no longer there. Hug your electricity tonight! (Figuratively speaking)

The Predator 3500 kept our fridge and freezer food nice and cold both days and 1 night without a hitch.

 

How's the Seq coming along?

 

Sorry to hear, but glad things are on the mend
I lived a summer in Wisconsin’s tornado alley. Watched several touch down - never a good thing to see. Luckily none where catastrophic, and damage was minimal, but it gave me an appreciation for the randomness and power of nature. Not everyone is so lucky

 

Wowzers, glad all is well in your world.

I've heard that pine like trees have shallow roots and can be problematic in high winds.

Freaky pics.

Once upon a time, we considered moving to Texas. But the tornadoes were a big factor in us deciding against it. (Not the only one though...)

 

Which is ironic since we plant them to block the wind.

 

Holy crap, that's terrifying!

Hurricanes and tornadoes are scary, something about the helpless feeling of knowing it's coming would be terrible.

I'll stick with the occasional earthquake out here in CA, by the time you wrap your head around what's happening it's over.

Glad you're okay.

 

I'm just glad it wasn't a Sharknado.

As for trees, pines and spruces are different. Generally, pines have a deep tap root. Spruces are usually native to areas with mountains/rocky soil. They don't have a big tap root. They have a very shallow root system that's good at clinging to rocks and crevasses. People in my area constantly buy and plant Colorado spruces. We have soft topsoil and thick but soft clay under that. The roots are mainly in the top 18" of soil and once the tree is tall enough to catch wind, it only takes a few 50 mph gusts to push it over. Usually when the tree is 20+ yrs old and big enough to cause damage or just be a pain to cut up and haul off.
It's always good to plant trees in the climate and soil type that they are naturally designed/adapted to be in.
Not that it matters when the wind is 100+ mph.

 

Wow, I'm just now seeing this.
Glad y'all are OK..

 

Just got the insurance to give us an estimate on repairs. Seems now they just have us take all the pics while they sit on their ass and email a lowballed quote. Funny how insurance rates keep rising and services keep going down. If I'm paying higher rates for my last 3 renewals, I expect an appraiser to get his butt over here and lay eyes on my vehicle in person.

Their estimate was approx $1400.

 

Sorry to hear that. What company is this if you don't mind me asking?
I would, in my case, call the customer service/adjuster/PIC to hound them until they send an field adjuster to the shops to take a look/your location if the said vehicle is not operable or not safe to move.

And the $1400 is including the windshield and? I mean, I would have a shop look at the A pillar especially on the passenger side, you don't want the airbags to go off unexpectedly just because it was damaged and ticking to go off.

Most of insurance I dealt with has been pretty ok, even the home insurance, called on Thursday to report damage and desk adjuster called on Friday and a field adjuster was here on Tuesday (Monday being Memorial Monday) and the report was in later that day and the call for check was issued on Friday. Now, the amount is in question, but I am surprised it moved this fast.
I guess I will be referring more of my customer to this company as they play pretty fair and turnaround quick.

 

State Farm. We've already been told that their underwriters put us on a list for "too many claims" in a specific timeframe. We have 3 since 2021 and 2 of those were windshields. Guess what #4 is lol the Sequoia is a magnet for dings and cracks. My truck is still on its original windshield...

If I insisted on a personal visit they'd probably tell me it'll take months before they can get one to me......................

 

SF..... Sorry, no like.
I hope they do you right by at least fixing it right. Then, I would highly recommend you shop around, even if the rates are going to be higher (for sure) but at least get someone else than SF so you don't have to deal with this kind of headache.

 

They've actually done everything right on our claims so far. We had water damage from a busted P trap upstairs and the claim was something like 10k. They approved the supplementals. My truck had the door ding fixed and they approved the supplemental on that one. The underwriter thing pisses us off though. Even though our renewals are going up everytime, it's still way below the rate any other major provider has quoted us.

 

So, free firewood for the wood burning stove in the winter?

 

Our SF auto just went up another $38 a month.
They said it was a statewide increase and had nothing to do with my $6K cat theft replacement claim.

We've had 3 homeowners claims in the last 17 years.
I ran into the front porch pillar and later a new roof were covered minus deductible with no issues.
Some ceiling water damage from the melting ice from the ice strom/power outage a couple years back didn't meet the deductible, but the over the phone appraiser was a dick.
I reported to him to several higher ups.

But in general SF has been pretty good to us..

 

Same statewide increase B.S. was told to us too. I even told the agent's rep to skip it because I already knew what she was gonna say when I asked for the reason of the increase. I then pointed out to her it was the same reason they gave us for the previous renewal increases.

 

Oh I've got plenty for our outdoor fire pit.

 

Glad you and the family are ok. Hope you're good to go soon.

 

How's the house repair and the Mrs. Seq repair coming along?