A family is recovering from a tree collapsing on their home, and they’re hoping their insurance can help them
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Trying to contact an insurance provider in the immediate aftermath of an ice storm has proven difficult for some.
The severe weather will disappear, but the effects of the ice storm will persist. Some residents in the Thurston area of Springfield fear the effects could last for weeks, others for months on end. For Patrick Christopher’s family, this experience was extremely traumatic.
“It was scary, man. A 200-foot tree falling on your bedroom and your child was sleeping in it was terrifying,” Christopher said.
Christopher never believed that something like this could ever happen to him. The 200-foot tree collapsed on his house, destroying a number of rooms and causing a power outage.
Christopher said the entire back of his house was severely damaged. In addition to his son’s bedroom, his master bedroom was damaged, as well as the staircase, living room, and private bathroom. The exact dollar amount of compensation is still not known. He’s waiting for his insurance company and the tree company to assess the full damage. In the meantime, he has to work on clearing the debris himself.
“Slowly but surely we cleared the snow, the tree branches were cut, there’s a big hole in my roof, and we’ve covered it with tarp for now until the tree service comes out,” he said.
Christopher said he has reached out to his insurance company but things are challenging to say the least. This is because providers are very busy now. Eric Misner has been a State Farm agent for 30 years. State Farm in Oregon has now received more than 1,000 claims related to the storm, he said.
“First of all, it’s good that the ice is starting to melt so we can get out and assess the damage because before today, we didn’t have a good understanding of what was out there,” Misner said.
What’s really frustrating is that they can save money, but they rely on plumbers and contractors to come out and fix damaged homes, Misner said. In the meantime, Misner recommends people document the damage they’ve done and do everything they can to prevent further damage.
“Let’s put some plastic tarps on the roof or on the windows, we can do that even before we talk to the agent,” he said.
While also researching available tree cleaning services, Christopher’s main priority now is finding a warm place to stay for his family. He and his family were moving from staying with relatives to living in an RV near Christopher’s Store.
Looking back, Christopher feels he should have been better prepared for the icing event and in the future will be more proactive rather than reactive.
“We knew the tree was going to fall,” he said. “I even went out the night before and had a conversation with the tree. I’m not kidding, we knew it was going to fall, man.”
Christopher said he learned some very important lessons like having more generators on site, gas and propane, and tarps as well. He also believes he should have gotten out of the house sooner and moved to another warm place as soon as possible.
Fortunately, no one was killed as a result of this tree collapse.
“I hope everyone is as lucky as us to have our family,” he said. “I’m happy that my kids and my wife are still here talking to me, helping me get through what I’m going through now.”
Julio Mora Rodriguez joined the KEZI 9 News team in October 2022 as a news reporter. If you have any story ideas, you can email Julio at jrodriguez@kezi.com.