Ten days after Hurricane Ida, Brooke Henderson found herself weeping at her backyard burn pit in Chester County, watching most of her first hemp crops billow up in white smoke.
Ida dumped seven inches of water over many work hours on Sept. 1, 2021. But disaster for Brooke and Glen Henderson struck within the first 30 minutes when an overwhelmed septic system spewed hundreds of gallons of sewage into the couple's basement, contaminating the 340 pounds of hemp drying in bins and personal belongings as well as bowing the basement wall.
Ida may be a weather footnote from last summer for many. But for homeowners such as the Hendersons, the storm marked just the beginning of a trench battle with the insurance industry that painfully lingers — in the Hendersons' situation, with the added heartbreak of watching sewage destroy their first commercial crop.
The couple estimated their total Ida damage at about $198,000, including the $80,000 in lost hemp. Donegal Mutual Insurance Group cut the claim to $105,000, both sides say in court papers. And so far, the firm has paid only $25,600. The insurance firm said it had to pay only $10,000 of the just-harvested crop, based on policy provisions on business income. Given the payment, the Hendersons consider their loss on the hemp to be at least $70,000.
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