Public Adjuster Ely, MN
Snow Load, Fallen Tree and Storm Drain Claims in Northern St. Louis County
✓ No Fee Unless We Recover
✓ Featured in Forbes, Realtor.com & Insurance.com
✓ Licensed & Serving the Entire State of Minnesota (#40962416)
Fill Out the Form Below to Get Started With your Free Claim Review:
NOAA's zone covering Ely carries 40 heavy snow events and 27 extreme cold spells since 2016, which averages close to four heavy snows and more than two cold snaps a year. The other two claims this town files are a tree through the building and water coming back out of the storm drains on Sheridan Street.
As Seen On:
Get Help With Your Ely Insurance Claim
A Forest Town Files Forest Claims
Ely's loss record is not really a storm record. NOAA's Northern St. Louis County zone, which contains the town, carries 40 heavy snow events and 27 extreme cold and wind chill episodes between 2016 and 2026. Set against 11 severe wind reports and 5 hail reports at Ely itself, the weather that costs money here is mostly winter.
What the wind does here is bring trees down on things. On July 21, 2016 a measured 70 mile-an-hour gust put trees and power lines down across town and peeled the roof from an enclosed softball shed at the school; a 65 mile-an-hour gust the same afternoon flattened a dugout. On July 23, 2021 a 52 mile-an-hour gust put two elms down in Whiteside Park, one of them 27 inches through and snapped about eight feet up. In June 2022 another gust snapped a very large tree the same way.
That 2021 storm also shows how quickly a weather loss here stops being a building loss. The Blueberry and Arts Festival was running in the park at the time, and NOAA's entry records significant damage to tents, booths and the goods for sale in them, after which the rest of the festival was canceled. Stock, equipment and lost trading are separate heads of cover from the roof.
And downtown has a drainage problem rather than a river problem. On June 18, 2024 rising water closed Pattison Street at 2nd Avenue East with water flowing back out of the storm drains, and East Pattison Street went under a foot of water. Thirteen months later, on July 23, 2025, the Whiteside Park webcam showed Sheridan Street flooded curb to curb and water standing around businesses at North Central Avenue.
Start Your Minnesota Claim Consultation
We are extremely proud to serve the following states:
We are based in Naples, FL but are licensed and our team services the entire states of Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota & South Dakota - contact us today to get started!
Ely by the Numbers
Zone, city and county figures, reported at the level each agency records them.
In NOAA's Northern St. Louis County zone, which contains Ely. The largest Ely-specific total on the record is 9.9 inches on February 18, 2026.NOAA Storm Events
Same zone, same eleven years, plus 7 drought events. Cold at that frequency is a freeze and ice-dam problem, not a comfort problem.NOAA Storm Events
July 23, 2021, broken about eight feet above the ground by a 52 mile-an-hour gust, with a second elm uprooted beside it.NOAA Storm Events
Including Sheridan Street curb to curb in July 2025 and East Pattison Street under a foot of water in June 2024, with water coming back out of the storm drains.NOAA Storm Events
Two Rules Worth Knowing on a Northern Minnesota Claim
Our Minnesota page carries the whole list: every clock the insurer is held to, and every restriction the state places on an adjuster like us. The two below are the ones that bite on a building standing empty through a winter.
Damage you find in spring is not automatically out of time72A.201
Thirty business days, or a reason in writing72A.201
Where We Work Around Ely
Streets, parks and dates below come from NOAA's St. Louis County entries.
Downtown Ely and Sheridan Street
St. Louis CountyThe commercial core is where the drainage shows up. Sheridan Street flooded curb to curb on July 23, 2025 with water standing around businesses at North Central Avenue and West Sheridan Street, and on June 18, 2024 Pattison Street at 2nd Avenue East closed as water came back out of the storm drains, leaving East Pattison Street under a foot of water.
Whiteside Park and the east side
St. Louis CountyA 52 mile-an-hour gust on July 23, 2021 brought two large elms down in the park, one uprooted and one 27 inches through snapped about eight feet up, and wrecked the tents and stock of the Blueberry and Arts Festival. In July 2020 the county sheriff took reports of downed trees on the east side of town.
Highway 1, Esterberg Road and the approaches
St. Louis CountyA tree came down at Minnesota Highway 1 and Esterberg Road in July 2019, and the June 2018 storms put numerous trees and power lines down across the Ely area with a 56 mile-an-hour gust measured at station ELOM5. Properties along the approach roads lose power and access before they lose roofing.
The lake country beyond town
St. Louis CountyNorthern St. Louis County is where the snow totals land: 13.1 inches from a single January 2017 storm, 9.6 inches measured in Ely in February 2018, and freezing rain to 0.20 inches on top of seven inches of snow in March 2022. Seasonal buildings take that load with nobody watching.
Who Should Handle an Ely Claim
Two things decide a file here: whether the damage is attributed to the weather or to the age of the building, and whether anyone priced what was inside it.
Public Adjuster
Ties the damage to a dated event- Matches the failure to a logged event, which matters when the roof gave way in February and nobody looked until May.
- Prices stock, equipment and contents as well as structure, which is what the Whiteside Park festival loss actually consisted of.
- No upfront fee. Minnesota also writes rules for our side of the table, from a three-day window to walk away to a bar on calling you after eight in the evening, and they apply the moment anything is signed.
Attorney
Where the policy language is the fight- The right call when the disagreement is about what a policy word means, or about how the insurer has behaved.
- Expensive and slow where the real dispute is whether a 27-inch elm or thirty winters took the roof.
Filing Alone
Free, and usually undated- Snow and ice damage is the easiest thing in the world to call wear, and the burden of dating it falls on you.
- Outbuildings, docks, sheds and contents carry limits of their own that a walk round the house never reaches.
What Ely Actually Claims For
Six kinds of loss, with the day and the measurement Ely's own record gives for each.
Snow load and roof failure
40 heavy snow events in eleven years in the zone around Ely, with 13.1 inches from one January 2017 storm and 9.9 inches measured in town in February 2026. A roof that deflects or a truss that cracks under load is a sudden event, not a maintenance item, and the difference is argued on dates and snow depths.
Ice dams, freeze and burst pipes
27 extreme cold and wind chill episodes in the same period, and freezing rain to 0.20 inches over seven inches of snow in March 2022. Water from an ice dam, a split supply line and a failed heating system are three different claims, and on a building that sits empty the policy's own conditions about heat and water matter before any of them.
Trees on buildings
11 severe wind reports at Ely, among them the July 2016 event that lifted a softball shed's roof off at the school at a measured 70 miles an hour, and 52 mile-an-hour gusts that snapped a 27-inch elm about eight feet up in 2021 and another large tree in 2022. Removal, the damage underneath and the damage to what was inside are separate line items. Our wind and storm claims page covers how those are scoped.
Storm drains and street flooding
4 flash floods recorded at Ely. Sheridan Street ran curb to curb in July 2025 and East Pattison Street was under a foot of water in June 2024, with water flowing back out of the storm drains. Water that backs up out of a drain and water that runs in off the street are not the same coverage. Our water and flood claims page sets out the difference.
Business stock and equipment
When the 2021 gust hit Whiteside Park it damaged tents, booths and the goods for sale in them, and the rest of the Blueberry and Arts Festival was canceled. For a business the loss is stock, equipment and trading, and none of those are on the building schedule.
Seasonal and outlying buildings
Docks, boathouses, garages, saunas and bunkhouses each carry their own limit, and on a property that is empty for months the damage and the discovery can be a season apart. The county's 183 flood claims on FEMA's file, 113 of them paid on the building, are a reminder that water losses here do get paid when they are documented.
How We Build an Ely File
Dating the damage is where a northern Minnesota claim is won or lost.
Pin the failure to a logged event
NOAA records the snow totals, the gust speeds and often the street. A roof tied to the 13.1 inch storm of January 2017, the 9.9 inches of February 2026 or the 70 mile-an-hour gust of July 2016 is a different conversation from a roof that simply looks tired.
Separate discovery from occurrence
On a building that is shut for the winter these are two dates, and the file should show both. Photographs of the snow, the heating records and the date of the first visit are what establish that the damage happened when you say it did.
Schedule what is not the house
Garages, saunas, bunkhouses, docks and boathouses price separately, and for a business so do stock and equipment. The Whiteside Park loss was mostly things rather than structure, and that is common here.
Ask for the written reason if the clock runs out
If 30 business days pass without an accept or deny, the statute expects an explanation in writing inside that window. On a claim waiting for a thaw, having that in the file changes the tone of everything after it.
What the insurer owes you once a claim is reported, and what an overdue payment accrues, is set out under every Minnesota deadline the insurer answers to.
Ely Claim Questions: Snow Load, Ice Dams, Fallen Trees and Seasonal Property
My Ely roof failed under snow and the insurer called it wear and tear. Can that be challenged?
A tree came down on my building. What is actually covered?
Does my policy cover water that came back out of the storm drain?
I only found the damage when I opened the place up in spring. Is it too late?
How long does my insurer have to decide an Ely claim?
What does the record around Ely actually show?
Told the Snow Damage Is Just Wear and Tear
It is the standard answer on a northern Minnesota roof, and it is an argument about dates rather than about coverage.
The event is on the record
NOAA logged 40 heavy snow events for this zone in eleven years with the totals attached: 13.1 inches in January 2017, 9.6 inches measured in Ely in February 2018, 9.9 inches in February 2026. A load failure that lines up with a logged total is evidence, not opinion.
Deflection is not deterioration
A sagging ridge, a cracked truss plate or a separated rafter tail is a structural response to weight. Age explains a worn surface; it does not explain a member that moved.
The tree is the easiest case of all
A 27-inch elm snapped eight feet up by a measured 52 mile-an-hour gust is a dated, witnessed, recorded event. If a tree claim is being called wear, the gust speed and the date are already published.
What the water did after the melt
An ice dam pushes water up under the covering and into the structure, which is a different mechanism from a leak through a failing surface. Separating those two is usually what moves the number.
A refusal should also name what it rests on: Minnesota does not let an insurer decline a claim by gesturing at the policy without identifying the provision it relies on.
If the Building Was Empty
Much of the property around Ely is used for part of the year, which affects two things at once. Your own policy will have conditions about heat, water and occupancy that apply before any freeze claim is considered, so they are worth reading now rather than in March.
Separately, lateness is not fatal by itself. A policy deadline is only worth something to the insurer if it can show the wait caused it real harm, having flagged that risk to you first. Heating records, the date of the first visit and photographs taken on arrival turn that from an argument into a document.
What We Bring to an Ely File
Minnesota license #40962416
Five state licenses sit behind this work, and the Minnesota figure we publish belongs to the company rather than to any one adjuster on staff. It is the license the file is handled under.
Dating beats arguing
Up here the disagreement is nearly always about timing. So the file gets built from logged snowfall, measured gusts and the interval between the damage happening and anyone seeing it, since that interval is where these claims are won.
Ely figures, looked up
Snow totals, gust speeds, street closures and claim counts here were read out of NOAA's St. Louis County and Northern St. Louis zone records and FEMA's own files. The day each was read is written down in the file behind this page.
Outbuildings, docks and stock
Saunas, bunkhouses, garages, docks and boathouses carry their own limits, and for a business so do stock and equipment. On this record the damage is as often to those as to the dwelling.
Start an Ely Claim Review
No upfront fee. Helpful to have: when you think the damage happened and when you found it, the declarations page, anything the insurer has sent in writing, and photographs from before the repairs or the thaw.