Walk away and start over? Connecticut flooding strands family as insurers deny damage claims

Sep. 12--MONROE -- Watching as a stand of birch trees in front of her home tore away and spiraled into the darkness, the last thing on Lili Michols' mind was the fine print in her homeowners insurance policy.

Minutes before, a huge oak had toppled and crushed her partner's Ford F-350 work truck and catapulted another car off the edge of the driveway -- and the rain was still coming down. The catastrophic storm on Aug. 18 that devastated sections of Oxford, Seymour and other Connecticut towns was liquifying the soil on the slopes around her home in the Stevenson section of Monroe -- and Michols feared for her life.

Michols told her partner, "Alright, we have to go... We have to leave, because any minute, trees could fall. We need to get out of here before it's dark."

As rain continued to hammer down, the pair packed up necessities like laptops and treasured photo albums and hiked over a ridge to safety. Neighbors had reported that the road from Michols' property had been completely washed out.

The house on Brookside Trail survived mostly intact, but now the future is uncertain. Estimated costs to repair the property, which Michols bought for $370,000 in 2005, are mounting well into the six figures, and her homeowners insurance won't cover any of it so far.

"I have ups and downs, emotional ups and downs," Michols said. "I have to sit down and do some math, see if it's even worth it. It might just be a 'walk away and start over' or take pennies on the dollar."

River transforms from a trickle to a torrent

Still in shock from the flood disaster, Michols and her neighbors on Brookside Trail are now dealing with the limitations of insurance coverage, town services and federal disaster aid, all amid the daily work required to repair the damage caused by a 1,000-year storm.

Michols' family's two destroyed vehicles -- along with two undamaged ones -- are now stranded by a road that is completely washed out in spots and weakened in others by the raging waters of a flooded Boys Halfway River.

That river, which trickled harmlessly at the bottom of a ravine for decades -- and even dried up completely at times -- turned into a destructive torrent on Aug. 18 after nearly 7 inches of rain fell over 3 and half hours on top of previous downpours that day totaling nearly 12 inches. (The river's quirky name dates to 1791 but its meaning is lost to time, according to posts by the Monroe Historical Society.)

Swollen by the storm runoff, the river surged a dozen feet above its traditional banks in spots and swept away Brookside Trail completely where it jogged to the left just below Michols' home. A narrow and steep footpath is currently the only access to her property and all the family's supplies are now brought in by backpack. A dead powerline sits tangled just before the road drops away completely.

The raging river also scooped away sections of the property of Michols' neighbor, Ming Marrin, and floodwaters rose to two feet in her garage and up to the first step of her front walkway.

Farther down Brookside Trail, a massive landslide has taken a bite out of the hillside on a property where the road intersects with Cottage Street. That street was washed out in several spots and was still unpaved in sections three weeks after the storm. Sections of Route 34 remain closed in the area and traveling east requires time-consuming forays onto rural roads.

Marrin has lived on Brookside Trail for 30 years, and she raised her three children there as a single mom after their father's death a decade ago. Now she eyes the forested landscape around her house with dread, fearing another catastrophic storm.

"You look at the trees and you think, 'Are you going to attack, are you going to fall on the house?' I'm just afraid that trees are going to crack and they're going to fold and they're going to fall," Marrin said. "I just don't feel safe."

Closer to Michols' home, rocks from smaller landslides broke windows and major slides along the river undermined the section of road right in front of her home. Repairing the road, which is considered private by the town, will likely cost more than $150,000, according to early estimates.

"I've had contractors here every day... getting numerous quotes to see who's interested in fixing the (road).. just to understand what my next move is," Michols said.

'Earth movement' not covered

That much of the damage to the properties on Brookside Trail was caused by landslides complicates the insurance situation. The Boys Halfway River's small size and distance from the homes prompted insurance agents in the past to say the homeowners didn't need flood insurance, but nothing was mentioned about the need for "earth movement" insurance.

And why would someone living in Connecticut need "earth movement" insurance in the first place? Earthquakes and landslides have not traditionally been a risk for homeowners in the state, and storms have mostly threatened those on the coast or living close to major rivers.

Michols' home and auto insurer, The Hanover Insurance Group of Worcester, Massachusetts, said that her claim was denied due to an "earth movement exclusion, which precludes coverage for loss caused directly or indirectly by landslide, mudslide or mudflow," according to Emily P. Trevallion, the company's assistant vice president of media relations.

The exclusion is typical in homeowners policies, but coverage can be found "through federal programs as well as some standard insurance companies and the surplus lines insurance market," Trevallion said.

"This is an unfortunate situation," Trevallion said of Michols' case.

The insurance company also balked on paying for a rental car as Michols' vehicle wasn't actually damaged -- just stranded by a washed-out road.

"I called my insurance agent first and told him the story. I'm not sure he fully understood the depth -- that we're trapped. There's a landslide and the driveway's compromised," Michols said.

Coverage gap puts homeowners at risk

Most Connecticut homeowners lack earth movement coverage -- and many even in flood-prone areas also lack flood insurance, state regulators say.

"The recent storms serve as a stark reminder that flood damage can happen anywhere, not just in designated flood zones," Andrew Mais, the state's insurance commissioner, said in a Sept. 10 statement urging residents to expand coverage ahead of peak hurricane season. "Homeowners, renters, and business owners must understand that standard insurance policies do not cover flood damage."

"Any time we get these storms that come up, we get calls from folks who don't realize that floods are not covered under a homeowner policy," said Gerard O'Sullivan, director of consumer affairs for the Connecticut Insurance Department. Some flood policies can cover landslides, but special add-on coverage is often needed.

Michols and her neighbors might benefit from contacting the insurance department directly with concerns about coverage, O'Sullvan said. "We'll take a look at it... we'll look at the facts of the individual case and give them our feedback and what their options are at that point."

More state homeowners are likely to be in Michols' position as storms intensify and insurers seek to control their catastrophe losses, O'Sullivan said.

"They always use the term 'one-in-1,000-year storm,' but it seems like every month or so there's a one-in-1,000-year storm somewhere," O'Sullivan said. "People should at least understand what it costs for them to purchase a flood policy and have that peace of mind. You don't want to be in that situation where you're looking for assistance from the federal government, which may or may not be granted."

Federal disaster aid may in fact be off the table for the Brookside Trail homeowners, as the Aug. 18 storm did most of its damage in New Haven and Litchfield counties. FEMA sets a threshold amount by county for damage to unlock in emergency funding, and Brookside Trail's location in relatively less-impacted Fairfield County may leave the Monroe homeowners out of a future aid package.

Gov. Ned Lamont grouped Fairfield County with other disaster-ravaged areas of the state in his Sept. 9 request for a federal major disaster declaration due to the Aug. 18 storm.

Lamont also singled out landslides for causing damage, including a Danbury mudslide that severed a gas main and forced the evacuation of part of a condominium complex on Shelter Rock Road. Once again, lack of flood insurance was cited as playing a role in the disaster's economic impact, estimated at $206 million.

"Approximately 90 percent of the damages occurred in areas that had not been designated as flood zones," the declaration request said. "Therefore, even those residents with homeowners or business insurance are not likely to have carried flood insurance."

Adding to the Brookside Trail homeowners' distress, the town of Monroe has rebuffed requests to help to restore the road and install drains farther upstream that could prevent a future disaster.

"We went to town hall together, and then said, 'We need help here,'" Michols said. "They're like, 'Oh, Brookside Trail? Private. Sorry."

The office of Monroe First Selectman Terry Rooney declined a request for an interview on the residents' situation.

Homeowners crowd-fund for repairs

A reading specialist at Monroe's Jockey Hollow Middle School, Michols is not a wealthy person who can just write a check for the $100,000-plus needed to repair her section of Brookside Trail and the other storm damage.

Marrin, who raised her kids as a single mom at her Brookside Trail home after the death of her husband, worries that the flood waters might have weakened her foundation.

"(Flood water) came up to the stone walls of my house, and I feel like there's damage underneath it, but I just don't see it," Marrin said. She was denied coverage by her insurer as well.

Friends of Michols and her partner, Peter Ehrismann, have set up a GoFundMe site to help pay for repairs in the near term. Marrin's sister has also set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to help the family rebuild and repair storm damage.

Elsewhere in Monroe, life goes on for most residents and the Aug. 18 storm is fading into history.

Even as they worry about the cost of repairs and the potential of having to move or make major life changes, the two women try to keep things in perspective. They have both raised their kids as single parents and become closer as neighbors as they struggle to recover from the storm.

"I went to church yesterday and I feel a little bit better. I feel like I could just be with people to say some prayers," Marrin said. "I feel like this situation will not overpower me, and I tell Lily, 'We're both safe, so we will be okay.'"

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