Manitoba homeowners stunned to find storm flooding not covered by their insurance

Several Manitobans are discovering their home insurance policies do not cover overland flooding after this week's storm and floods.

Many residents across Manitoba are discovering this week that their home insurance policies do not cover overland flooding—a protection that must be purchased separately and that many say they never knew was missing from their coverage.

Tara and Darcy Richardson of Stony Mountain are among them. The couple had paid home insurance for more than 30 years when floodwater poured through their door on June 9.

“The obvious thing is, when you’re paying for insurance, you want your home protected from fire, from flood, and from theft,” Tara said Friday. “And now they’re saying we are not covered from flood.”

Stony Mountain was among the hardest-hit communities, located approximately 10 kilometres southeast of Stonewall, which received over 255 mm of rain in a matter of hours, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

“Having paid insurance for well over 30 years, every year you get your insurance policy and you pay it, thinking that you’re covered for everything,” Tara said. “It’s very stressful, very devastating.”

When a tornado warning was issued for the region, the couple—who have no basement of their own—sought refuge in a neighbour’s basement across the street, which soon began taking on water.

“So once the winds settled down, we were able to come back across the street, and at that point is when we started seeing all the water rushing in through our door,” Tara said.

“Having lived here for like 50 years and never seeing or experiencing anything like this before, I think it was, you know, you’re in fight or flight, and so you’re in shock, and your mind is a little bit all over the place.”

Showing CTV News the inside of her home Friday, she said it looked like a twister went through her floral studio, noting everything was floating and had been displaced when the water inside receded.

The couple then evacuated to Darcy’s mother’s home at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday and stayed up all night to be the first to arrive in person at an insurance office. They said they filled out forms, provided information, and returned to salvage what they could.

“Then we got a phone call from the agent… and then that’s when he told us that we’re not covered on that,” Darcy said.

Both self-employed, the couple said they are still unable to sleep in their home with no income coming in.

‘Optional perils’

Rob de Pruis, national director of consumer and industry relations for the Insurance Bureau of Canada, says overland flood coverage only became widely available across Canada around 2015, when insurers developed better risk-modelling tools.

“Standard home insurance policies cover a variety of different events, from wind to hail to fire and a whole bunch of other things, but specific events, like overland flood and sewer backup, these are optional perils that you have to add on,” de Pruis said.

He said the optional add-on typically costs between $100 and a few hundred dollars annually in Manitoba, depending on factors such as coverage limits, deductibles and risk.

De Pruis acknowledged the gap many are now confronting and urged those affected to contact their insurer immediately.

Premier Wab Kinew announced Thursday in Stonewall that the province is activating a province-wide Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA) program through the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization (EMO), treating storms this June—from the Swan Valley region to the Interlake—as a single province-wide event.

“No one in rural Manitoba is going to be left behind,” Kinew told reporters Thursday. “Your provincial government is going to make sure that there are the resources to help you clean up, to rebuild, and to recover from these terrible storms that we’ve been seeing recently.”

In a statement, a provincial spokesperson said the program assists with uninsurable damages, response costs and targeted recovery supports and is intended for residents who are underinsured or facing financial hardship.

Manitoba EMO is encouraging affected residents to work with their insurance broker to determine coverage and apply for the DFA program, the spokesperson said.

But de Pruis said government financial assistance provides “limited coverage”—noting that insurance is intended for full replacements and repairs.

For the Richardsons, the uncertainty is taking a toll.

“You pay year after year, thinking that you’re covered,” Darcy said, “and then one day this happens, and you find out that you’re not.”