Woes continue for home threatened by landslides

CAT SIEH

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DEMING — Until late March, Dusty and Marsha Tamblyn’s financial stability was as precarious as their home. The brick-red structure has been teetering on the edge of a Nooksack River bluff for two years.

The couple was forced to move from the 1,500-square-foot home in 2006, when massive landslides swept away the garage, leading the county to deem the property unsafe. They’d lived in the home — worth $400,000, according to Dusty Tamblyn — for a decade.

Even as the Tamblyns moved with their dogs and cat to a friend’s home in Burlington, then to a fifth-wheel trailer, then to a rental home in Bellingham, they received another blow: their insurance company wouldn’t pay the claim on the house.

| JOHN S. HAGEN THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Two years and one lawsuit later, Safeco Insurance settled with the Tamblyns out of court in late March, agreeing to honor the claim.

“We lost everything,” Dusty Tamblyn said in a phone interview from Colorado, where the couple now rents a house. “I figured we probably wouldn’t even have any credit.”

Tamblyn declined to say how much the settlement was for, but said it would more than cover legal expenses. Still, it won’t be enough to buy a new house. The couple still owns the Whatcom County home, and is negotiating with their bank over the mortgage, he said.

While Safeco had argued that the landslide was a natural event that was not covered by the Tamblyn’s policy, their attorney, Steve Chase, argued that county flood work had diverted the river’s flow to cause the slide, making it a manmade occurrence that would be covered.

State law affords legal immunity to government agencies for flood management work, Chase said.

Tamblyn, now a car salesman, said he still sees the bright side of the situation.

“We didn’t lose our lives. Hopefully we’ll be able to recover our credit and start over again,” he said. “We’re happy in Colorado. I’m outta the damn rain.”