The insurance response has begun following an intense windstorm that hit Red Deer, Alberta, on Tuesday.

The city has declared a state of emergency following fallen trees, downed powerlines, and Rob de Pruis, the director of consumer and industry relations at the Insurance Bureau of Canada said claims have started to come in.

“We have heard from a number of insurers already, they’ve dispatched adjusters to the region, they’ve been making contact with the homeowners and they’ve been starting to work on temporary emergency repairs,” he said. “A few of the properties did suffer some damage to the roofs, where there’s potential for water entry to happen.”

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de Pruis said adjusters may be coming from Edmonton and Calgary to supplement the workforce - but there are many already adjusters in town.

“We’ve been in contact with the emergency operations centre of the City of Red Deer and we’ve been sharing information with them about the insurance aspect,” de Pruis said.

As far as claims go, electrical outages could be a primary cause.

“As a result of a power outage you could have some food spoilage - and food spoilage is typically covered under your home policy,” de Pruis said, explaining there may be a deductible and brokers should inform clients to take pictures of the spoiled food.


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