It's the first day of autumn

[Anonymous]

I think the lightning must have thought so.



Decided to reduce it in size a bit.

The bigger the house, the bigger the target.

[Bricktop]

So it seems.



Initially we thought we were the only victims, but the increasing number of vans in the street indicates that other homes were hit. One neighbour had holes blown in his outer walls. There is a small charred patch in the field behind us, and we're VERY happy the council had cut the grass down recently, or that might have become a far more serious conflagration.



One tree about 20 metres beyond our fence has been blasted in half.



All the streetlights have blown.



Our pool lights were totally destroyed. They are submersed!!



However, we certainly took the worst hit. But nobody was hurt, and everything is replaceable. Our insurance company is great and have looked after us.

[Anonymous]

A lot of people that get their property damaged in natural disasters are in for a rude shock when they try to collect from their insurance. You cannot even buy overland flood insurance in Canada.

[Bricktop]

Insurance companies here are on a tight leash.



They have to be fully open and detailed about what is and what isn't covered. If you apply for insurance in high risk areas, they must tell you if you have under insured.



If they start playing ducks and drakes with claims, we have an Ombudsman that jumps on them pretty smartly.



Although we are highly over-regulated in many areas, finance companies, banks, insurance companies and health insurers are under strict compliance guidelines to avoid jerking customers around.



I'm pretty sure our insurance company was skeptical about the lightning strike, so they sent out TWO assessors to confirm the damage is consistent with lightning, and not a scam.

[Anonymous]

Insurance companies here are on a tight leash.



They have to be fully open and detailed about what is and what isn't covered. If you apply for insurance in high risk areas, they must tell you if you have under insured.



If they start playing ducks and drakes with claims, we have an Ombudsman that jumps on them pretty smartly.



Although we are highly over-regulated in many areas, finance companies, banks, insurance companies and health insurers are under strict compliance guidelines to avoid jerking customers around.



I'm pretty sure our insurance company was skeptical about the lightning strike, so they sent out TWO assessors to confirm the damage is consistent with lightning, and not a scam.

That would happen here too..



And Herman is right, overland flood insurance is unavailable in Canada..



The water damage our house sustained in 2013 was a write off.