While many Minnesotan families continue to recover from this summer’s historic flooding, for one Waterville family, their frustrations go further than cleaning up. 

The Zimmer family cabin sits on the shore of Tetonka Lake, where the Cannon River flows through and in late June, the lake swallowed their yard and then their cabin. 

“You wake up worrying about it. Go to bed worrying about it,” Jim Zimmer said about his situation. 

There was a moment of relief for Zimmer – he says it was when he saw how significant the flooding was and thought about his flood insurance likely being able to cover the costs. As he started reaching out, to his surprise, he learned his flood coverage was dropped. 

“We have to have [flood] insurance because we’re in a floodplain. So, they take it out of our mortgage,” Zimmer said about the many years of having the coverage. 

Now, though, he says the bank and insurance company are blaming each other. 

“I paid my bill. Those guys mess it up between the two of them, but I’m the one stuck with the bill,” Zimmer added about the cost of the damage he says could cost $80,000. 

Zimmer says the next step is finding a lawyer with plans to sue both his bank and insurance agency. He has filed a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Commerce – Zimmer says the state agency told him it’s still investigating his case. 

According to the commerce department, the number of complaints more than doubled in 2023 compared to 2020. 

“In the last three years, we’ve been able to get Minnesotans $10 million back from insurance companies,” Grace Arnold, commissioner of the Department of Commerce, said. 

“It’s never pleasant to think about bad things that can happen. But being prepared is really important,” Commissioner Arnold said about the importance of having proper insurance. 

But just as important as having it is understanding the coverage too, Arnold adds. 

“Ask many times, ask in different ways,” she suggests about contacting your insurance company. 

You can file a complaint with the commerce department here.

As Zimmer reflects, he says an unexpected check from the bank should have been a red flag and feels things would have worked out better if he had reached out then. 

“If it says overpayment, it’s not an overpayment… something’s up, give your bank a call,” Zimmer said.