January windstorm in Colorado Springs was deadly but not as costly as initially feared

Feb. 20--Despite downed trees, widespread power outages and wind-torn property across Colorado Springs, January's freak wind storm didn't make the list of the city's most costly or destructive disasters, but it is among the deadliest.

Two people have died from injuries received during the Jan. 9 wind storm: Joseph Boyer and Marjory Francis. That ranks the natural disaster among the deadliest in Colorado Springs.

The Waldo Canyon Fire and the Black Forest Fire, two of the state's most costly disasters, also killed two people each. The 2013 flash flood in Manitou Springs killed one.

Still, the state measures disasters in terms of dollars, not death.

The hurricane force winds didn't produce enough property damage to make the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association's list of costly disasters the way the hail bomb of a storm over the summer did, the association's Executive Director Carole Walker said. A disaster must reach a $25 million threshold in insurance claims before RMIIA tracks it, Walker said.

For example, the July 28 hailstorm triggered more than 80,000 claims totaling $352.8 million in damage to homes and cars, making it the sixth costliest disaster in state history.

The Waldo Canyon Fire, which destroyed 346 homes, racked up insurance claims of $453.7 million. It remains the most destructive fire in Colorado history, closely followed by the Black Forest Fire a year later that destroyed 486 homes and produced $420.5 million in insurance claims.

Without insurance numbers, its hard to know how the windstorm stacks up, but repair costs from Colorado Springs Utilities offers a glimpse.

The numerous downed power lines that left some residents in the dark for a couple days was estimated to cost the utilities company $1.6 million, spokesman Steve Berry said.

"We knew we were not going to meet the threshold for any kind of federal assistance through (the Federal Emergency Management Agency)," Berry said.

For the most part, any damages to homes or vehicles will be covered by respective insurances. But high deductibles might be driving down claims.

Commonly, consumers select $500 or $1,000 under the out-of-pocket insurance deductible, Walker said. It's up to homeowners to decide if the amount of damage is worth filing a claim, she said.

"If you have a $1,000 deductible and $1,200 in total damages that amounts to an insurance claim of only $200," Walker said. "However, if there is extensive damage that adds up to more than the deductible that may be well worth it to repair or replace a fence or other property damage."

One Security resident isn't concerned about repair costs.

Dean Byrne's home was featured in The Gazette for what appeared to be extensive damage to the roof along with massive downed trees in his front yard that lifted his World War II-era vehicle to a 45-degree angle. As it turns out, the damage was less than expected, Byrne said.

The wind peeled his roof off down to the wood and ripped up his backyard fence, but left everything else relatively untouched, Byrne said.

"It was a massive inconvenience, I suppose, but it didn't damage the house," Byrne explained.

Rising costs had led Byrne to cut ties with homeowners insurance more than a decade ago, so he's paying for all repairs out of pocket. But the $600-700 he says he saved on insurance each month is covering his new roof.

"I just spent it all at once instead of spread out over 10 or 12 years," Byrne said.

Costs to repair his fence, too, produced little more than a shrug.

Byrne said he already was planning to replace the "8-foot-tall solid plywood fence" that had "been there forever" and "had started to go to Hell" when the wind took the liberty of ripping up what remained.

"It was money I had planned to spend anyway and wouldn't have been covered by insurance," Byrne said. "If I had insurance I could have blamed the wind, but, eh."

Damage claims could have been worse if Security would have received the rainfall that was forecast in the days following the windstorm. Instead, weather has been fair, allowing homeowners to make repairs without worrying about further weather damage, Byrne said.

"When push comes to shove, it doesn't get any luckier than that," Byrne said.

"It is what it is: We got hammered by the worst wind storm in, I heard 50 or 60 years. My roofing blew away, but that's as bad as it got."

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Contact Kaitlin Durbin: 636-0362

Twitter: @njKaitlinDurbin

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