Up to $80K in flood damage, insurance won't cover Lewisporte man

A Lewisporte man whose basement ended up underwater during heavy rains this week says his insurance company won't cover the damage.

By Friday, Trent Nicholas hada dumpster full of broken gyproc and wood parked outside his home. Friends hadhelped move firewood from the soggy basement to his garden and vacuumed up the water.

But his furnace is ruined, and he estimatedit will cost up to$80,000 to repair the damage to his home.

"I was supposed to have insurance," Nicholastold CBC News. "Because it did comethrough my toilets and through my sump pumps and flooded this area, but because it came over the ground after, they said they wouldn't cover it because it's over the ground flooding."

Flooding was so bad in Lewisporte as the tail end of Hurricane Matthew hammered central Newfoundland, the town declared a state of emergency. Many homes are damaged.

• Central N.L. towns rally to help repair broken communities
• 'Absolutely unbelievable' road damage, some areas still cut off

One street away, Nicholas's neighbour Triffie Burt hada lawn full of rolled up carpet, and wet furniture. But when it comes to insurance coverage, she's lucky.

"Ours, we hadsewer. If there's a good thing ofhaving sewer backup, we had it," said Burt.

"I did manage to get my grandmother's rocking chair out, and mybookcase my husband built for me, but pretty much everything else is gone."

A loss worth about $25,000, she said.

Burt is grateful for the Red Cross, which has helped with food, clothing and a flood recovery kit with brooms, bags andcleaning supplies.

"It made me feel really good to know that there's help out there for anyone who would need it."