After Windsor flood, residents learn they don't have insurance

After record-setting rain drenched Windsor and Tecumseh, Ont.this week, many residents were surprised to learn damages to their homeswerenot covered by theirinsurance providers.

Don Jamieson lives near the Blue Heron Bridge, which was stillalmostcompletely under water Friday afternoon.

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Heand several of his neighbours found out they had no insurance coverage for the backed up water that destroyed parts of their homes.

"It's shocking. You make sure you make those payments every single month and you pay diligently, knowing you have this protection," he said. "Then when you go to apply for the protection...you find out you don't have it."

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Homeowners need to know their policies to ensure they have the right coverage, explained Anne Marie Thomas of insurancehotline.com.

Some residents may not have access to sewer backup coverage, if they live in low-lying or flood-prone areas. In those cases, insurance companies will require people to have preventative equipment, likesump pumps.

Insurance customers also need to know the difference betweenflood and sewer backup coverage, Thomas said. Damage from severe rain incidents, like the one seen in the Windsor region, falls under sewer backup coverage.

Flood insurance refers to natural disasters, such as large bodies of water flooding a community.

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"It's not water that came over the Detroit River or something like that, it was because the sewers couldn't handle the volume and it backed up into the streets," Thomassaid.