A family in Irondequoit, New York, was searching for answers after a major landslide behind their home.
What's happening?
WHAM (@13whamtv) shared the Stafford family's story on Instagram, with the devastating landslide coming after extreme weather in the area.
Five days after the landslide, David Stafford was still in his home with his pregnant wife.
"Not getting much sleep, we're doing what we can to keep it positive," he told the outlet. "Everybody's healthy. We want to keep it that way after the baby's born."
Unfortunately, there was little relief on the horizon for the Staffords. The family's home and the associated land are considered private property by the state.
Their insurance company also passed the buck, as WHAM explored.
"Insurance is designed to cover sudden and accidental perils, but earth movement events like landslides fall outside the standard framework," Loretta Worters, vice president of media relations at the Insurance Information Institute, told the publication.
That remains true even if weather events play a major role. A report from The Monroe County Soil and Water Conservation District suggested that the combination of a severe March 31 storm and easily erodible soil likely caused the landslide, per WHAM.
Worters noted that homeowners can add special plans to insurance policies to get protection for events such as flooding, earthquakes, and landslides. However, many aren't aware of the coverage gaps, and here, the landslide threat wasn't on the neighborhood's radar.
Why is the Stafford family's lack of recourse concerning?
Severe weather events are becoming increasingly frequent and intense due to the shifting climate. That means more homeowners could face catastrophic events like this out of the blue.
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Making these situations even more difficult, insurance companies are wriggling their way out of helping homeowners in need — that is, if they even allow coverage in vulnerable areas.
For families like the Staffords and their neighbors, the issue created a helpless situation. In addition to the risk of being uprooted from their homes, they could be forced to take a massive step back financially for an event completely out of their control.
What's being done about the Stafford family's predicament?
The family reached out to the town and representatives to seek any help they could get. They were hoping that their house would stay upright and safely away from the ravine.
Locals like David Pitt of Dinosaur Tree and Landscape tried to help the family out by lending their expertise.
The town and governmental offices released statements confirming awareness, but they were vague on what they planned to do.
"We're not trying to gain from this," Stafford told WHAM. "We're just trying to be made whole with what we did have, or at least to keep what we have now, and just take this stress away."
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