MISSOULA — Some homes across Missoula suffered extensive damage from trees falling on the property following the July 24th windstorm.
One such homeowner was Alexandra Melhuse who had a large cottonwood tree fall onto her deck and roof. Now, she is in the process of rebuilding. Melhuse first had to get the tree off of her home, something that came with a cost.
“The tree service, their bill was $15,000 and the insurance adjuster forwarded, 20,000 to me so I could pay them right away. And then my next task was to try to replace some of the items that were destroyed on the deck, which I was fairly ambivalent about because they're just things — but I did try to keep the cost down as much as possible through Amazon, Walmart, Target, things like that. And I think that was about $437”, Melhuse told MTN.
With all of the costs, Melhuse has been going through her homeowner's insurance, something that has been going rather smoothly for her.
“You know, it's, it's actually been quite, quite good. I've never had any experience with this before” said Melhuse. “So I think it's great at this point. I'm completely overwhelmed but very happy about the process”.
As Melhuse continues the process of rebuilding, she now has to go through a contractor to begin working on her roof.
The question that popped up was whether or not her insurance rates would increase because of the damage but thankfully for Melhuse, she had switched insurance companies before the storm and since her new insurance isn’t covering the damages, her rates will not increase.
There are resources available from the Missoula Organization of Realtors and the Montana State Auditor's Office for people who suffered storm damage.
