Flooding causes havoc for Highland Lakes businesses, homeowners

Oct. 17--James Dyer spent Wednesday morning trying to figure out how to hoist five pontoon boats off the heavily damaged docks at Lake LBJ Resort and Marina, a microcosm of the havoc property owners along the Highland Lakes are confronting amid this week's flooding.

"The water came in and lifted (the boats) on top of the docks," said Dyer, who has lived in the area for 40-plus years and manages the business. "I've seen flooding, but nothing like this."

Insurance companies were dispatching representatives to the region to begin assessing the damage to commercial property, houses and automobiles, and to help clients start filing claims.

An overall monetary estimate of the destruction was not yet available Wednesday. But many residential and commercial structures along the lakes and tributaries were inundated by the fast-rising torrent, as were many vehicles.

"We are aware of how quickly that area saw the flooding, and we do have agents that are reaching out to customers," said Kristen Freis, a spokeswoman for Allstate Insurance Co. "Right now, we are just trying to get a handle on how we can help and just get our customers into recovery as soon as possible."

State Farm said it also had representatives in the area in response to the flooding.

Standard business and residential insurance policies don't cover damage from floods, although property owners within designated 100-year flood plains generally are required by their mortgage lenders to buy separate flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program.

Many insurance companies, such as Allstate and State Farm, sell and service flood policies that are underwritten by the National Flood Insurance Program to customers who need or want them, along with their standard commercial property or homeowners policies.

Meanwhile, comprehensive automobile policies typically do cover flood damage.

"Obviously, there are cars and trucks that were submerged" in the flooding, which usually means they're totaled for insurance purposes, said Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas, which represents property and casualty insurers in the state.

Hanna said the average claim on a totaled vehicle ranges from $15,000 to $20,000. Still, he said flooding generally results in fewer totaled vehicles than severe windstorms or hailstorms, because vehicles simply can be moved out of harm's way during flooding.

Neither Allstate nor State Farm said they had a count yet that they could publicly release of the number of property or automobile claims filed by their customers as a result of the flooding along the Highland Lakes.

For Dyer, at the Lake LBJ resort, the first order of business was simply to decide what to do about the stranded pontoon boats, which are used as rentals.

"I'll probably have to get a crane to put (the boats) back in," Dyer said.

The marina's small store also was flooded, and its gas pumps had shorted out. Dyer said he wasn't certain when the business might be operational again.

"We have no clue at this time," he said.

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