Left out to dry
Storm ruins home, insurance will not pay for damages
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When Marvin and Charlene Tobola honeymooned in 1990, they drove to their new home just outside Edna.
Finally, they had each other and a place of their own.
But on June 21, just a month ago, the sky fell in on their peaceful life – literally.
A late night, severe thunderstorm – which they say spawned a tornado – ripped the home’s tar roof from the decking.
Rain doused every room and flooded the floors three inches deep.
Now, the couple and their two children must piece together their lives and home. They must rebuild knowing their insurance company won’t pay a dime.
A month ago, the family watched TV reports about an approaching storm. Then, they became the news.
The house shook. Lightning flashes filled the home with an eerie glow. They heard what sounded like a freight train.
Violent winds ripped the tar roof from the slat decking and made way for a rush of cold rainwater. Tar dripped from above.
“Every room was like a heavy rain indoors,” said Charlene Tobola, 41.
They called 911. Edna warning sirens blared.
Shaken, they fished in the dark for family photos and dry clothes. That night, they slept in an Edna motel.
Now, they sleep in a small camp trailer parked in their driveway. The home is ruined.
The mother toured the home on County Road 121 on Tuesday, pointing to where upgrades were once installed.
Walls are gutted to the studs. Kitchen cabinets are missing. Glue stains on buckled hardwoods are all that’s left of carpet.
Signs of mold are everywhere.
Tobola, who wears a Medic Alert necklace, has severe asthma and can’t live in the house as it is.
“Insurance won’t cover anything,” she said.
In 1999, RVOS Farm Mutual Insurance Company placed a restriction on the family’s coverage. The company would insure the home but not the roof.
“It’s too flat of a roof, not very pitched,” said Marvin Tobola, 50. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to say.”
Wes Jackson oversees the company’s claims department. Law restricts him from discussing clients’ policies. He agreed to speak in general terms.
“The roof may be in a condition that we may not be willing to cover. Then, we wouldn’t cover the roof or the damage occurred through the roof,” Jackson said. “I really wish it was different.”
Tony Jeter is a spokesman for the company.
“We hate to see anybody have a catastrophic event. We deal with those every day,” Jeter said. “We seek to find coverage in terms of whatever the policy will allow.”
Still, the Tobolas need a home.
Family helped to re-roof the home. The husband’s employer, Mercer Construction in Edna, lent workers to rip sheet rock from the walls and tiles from the ceiling.
A neighbor offered the camp trailer.
“We can’t afford, really, to build from the ground up,” Charlene Tobola said. “We’re trying to make ends meet.”
Monthly prescription costs, debts, past due hospital bills and the cost of living are taxing the family, especially now, she said.
Together, the parents earn an average income, the mother said.
“Any bit of help we can get,” Tobola said. “When you see our house, don’t judge it from the outside. Driving by doesn’t tell the whole story.”
Inside the home, Andrew, 8, talked about the storm.
“It’s sad losing your room in your house,” the youngest son said. “Toys and stuff. Legos.”
After volunteers gutted his room, studs revealed severe termite damage.
Days after the storm, another approached. “Is it coming back after us?” the boy said.
While the family swears a tornado smashed their home, the National Weather Service in Houston-Galveston disagrees.
“It wasn’t a tornado, but high winds,” said Richard Mosir, a weather service spokesman. “There were severe, 58-mile-per-hour winds and penny-sized hail. But no tornado warning was ever out on that storm.”
Jackson County Fire Marshal Buster Chase said the city sounded the sirens because dispatch received calls about a funnel cloud.
Sirens don’t necessarily indicate a tornado, he said.
Jackson County Sheriff A.J. “Andy” Louderback, however, said he’s convinced otherwise.
“I don’t think there’s any question it was a tornado,” Louderback said. “No one’s contested that. I’m surprised.”
It’s no surprise the mother is worried about what next to do. They’ve considered bulldozing the home.
Until a solution arises, the four family members – including Marcus, 16 – sleep in a tiny, two-bed camp trailer.
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Too late now... Dolly knocking at the door.... see me after landfall.
July 21, 2008 at 9:31 p.m.I invite anyone to come by my office and bring your current policy regardless of the company. I will be glad to sit down and go over it with you. I take pride in going line by line over the coverage offered by the company I represent as it is the best policy on the market. It may not be the cheapest, but it is the best. You get what you pay for. My office is located at 1904 N Navarro (361-580-3276).
July 18, 2008 at 6:07 p.m.Your homeowners insurance is not something to have explained to you over the phone. I highly recommend you do it face to face. With hurricane season upon us, now is the time. If you want to see how your company's policy compares to other companies, go to www.opic.state.tx.us/homeowner.php
Don't wait until it's too late.
The walls are still standing & yet the roof is gone? That could have tipped them off.
July 18, 2008 at 3:55 p.m.OK I only have one thing to say why is it that insurance companies don't mind taking your money on a regular basis but as soon as you have to claim something they either drop you or have a reason why they can't pay. Maybe it does state that the roof wouldn't be covered but maybe the roof wasn't what caused the problem here maybe the walls were the problem from the tornado. How can the insurance company prove otherwise, so be it they don't pay for the roof but they should have to pay for the rest of the house that was damaged by the storm since that was covered in the policy.
July 18, 2008 at 2:09 p.m.This article caught my eye because I have had RVOS insurance since 1999. I realize that this family is having hard times but they have also known for 9 years that the roof wouldnt be covered in the event that something like this happened due to the pitch problem and the restriction that was but on the roof. This is something the homeowner knew about. Sorry thats just common sense. I have filed two claims with RVOS insurance (one was a roof claim) and had no problems in getting my claims resolved quickly. As a homeowner there are responsibilities that we should all take to keep our homes maintained. Nine years has been plenty of time to resolve this.
July 18, 2008 at 12:33 a.m.Perhaps an insurance person, or former insurance can help....."errors and ommisions"? Isn't that in the event of a "problem" with a policy that excluded or was explained properly?
I mentioned this once will wrestling with a claims agent, and the disagreement went away in a hurry....
July 17, 2008 at 5:05 p.m.If one insurance company won't insure the roof another will. We had one company turn us down due to the roofs age & yet another didn't have any issues with it. Whats the point of having homeowners if it doesn't cover the roof...odds are thats the originator of most problems. I do feel badly for the family but had they corrected what was wrong with the roof sooner this would not be an issue. He does work for a construction company, I'm sure he could've added some pitch to the roof if that was indeed the issue.
July 17, 2008 at 4:41 p.m.If they claim to have "not understood" what type of insurance they were buying "to save some money", they should let the agent know they intend to file under his "errors and ommissions" coverage. They'll get some of his attention then.
If they understood the roof was not covered, they hosed themselves.
July 17, 2008 at 2:53 p.m.Wouldn't the world be a better place if insurance companies paid everybody's claim regardless of whether or not it was covered on their policy? Then the insurance companies could increase everyone's rates to pay for this "universal colverage". What a deal!!!
The article very clearly states that the policy had a roof restriction placed on it when it was written. Basically, the company agreed to insure the home but not the roof. Anybody with any common sense will understand this to mean the the roof was in bad enough shape that it wasn't insurable to start with. And by the way that was in 1999. Just think about how much worse it must have gotten over those 9 years.
The writer was obviously trying to manipulate public sentiment against this company. Termites! C'mon! What insurance company pays for termite damage?
I do feel sorry about the situation the family is in but it is not the insurance company's fault. Had they fixed their roof and gotten the restriction removed they be fine. This is nothing but the newspaper manipulating people's emotions at the expense of RVOS.
July 17, 2008 at 2:38 p.m.most insurance companies are like this. you must read the tiny tiny print, because they will come back and jerk you around. Farm Bureau is the same way...i once had problems with them. You pay an arm and a leg for insurance that you MUST HAVE...and then when you need them they come out with all of these clauses that they have...
July 17, 2008 at 10:53 a.m.Sad story. This family really has their hands full.
Although not anyway near this severe, I've had dealings with RVOS insurance. Enough to were I am looking for another company once this years policy runs out.
July 17, 2008 at 10:31 a.m.They send us an insulting amount for repairs on a bath that two local companies estimated three times that amount to fix, and this bath is nothing exravagant by no means. Once I approached them about it they backed tracked and claimed they used an outdated price book and sent us more money, still not close tough.
I may find out other insurance companies work the same way, I don't know, but unfortunatly I do know now how RVOS works.