Damage costing homeowners with insurance thousands
5:05 p.m. Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Once a safe haven garden is now destroyed for one family after the June 11th tornado ripped through their yard.
"50 trees broken, 25 uprooted, completely uprooted," said Rahim Borhani after a tornado struck his property.
Borhani was going to have a garden party just days after the storm, and it turned into a chainsaw party. He immediately went to work on cleaning up his yard.
"I right away hired a guy to come and cut up, he came with a huge cherry picker, thinking that it would all be paid for," said Borhani.
But it's not. Borhani's insurance company will only pay to remove trees that hit his house.
"I count 17 of them that has hit the house, the rest I have to pay out of my pocket," said Borhani.
It is a huge bill.
"Just $10,000 already. And then I have more bills coming, probably will be about $17,000 to $18,000. Insurance may cover 6,7,8 thousand," said Borhani.
We checked with the State Insurance Commission and found the same is true for most insurance policies. If trees hit your home, or something else you've insured, like a fence, the insurance company pays for it. Otherwise, it's up to you.
"But one of the things is I just didn't read the smaller letters. Maybe parts of it's my fault. I didn't read my homeowners insurance copy," said Borhani.
The Insurance Commission has a consumer hot line if you have any questions about your policy.
That number is 1-800- 432-2484.
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