Insurers Waiting For Hurricane Conditions To Improve
Sept. 12--BLOOMINGTON -- Catastrophe response teams and claims adjusters are in position or en route to areas affected by the latest hurricane to hit the United States, but it might be a while before they inspect the damage, according to representatives of State Farm Insurance and Country Financial.
Hurricane Irma, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm on Sunday, was downgraded to a tropical storm on Monday but was still causing damage.
Chris Stroisch, public relations supervisor for Country Financial said Monday, "Weather conditions today and tomorrow will likely prevent our teams from being able to inspect damaged properties until Thursday morning."
Country Financial does not issue auto and property policies in Florida, but it does have customers in other affected areas.
"Some of our catastrophe teams and claims representatives are already located in Georgia and Alabama. The rest of the teams are in route and will be on site in the next day or two," said Stroisch.
State Farm spokeswoman Missy Dundov said Monday, "Our greatest concern is for the safety of everyone in the affected areas. Right now our teams are surveying the damage and determining the resources needed to meet our customers' needs."
She said it is still early in the process, with about 240 auto and homeowner's claims received at the end of the day on Sunday. The company expects to receive more once people can return home or go outside to look at damage, she said.
Meanwhile, State Farm has received more than 77,000 auto and homeowner's claims so far from areas affected by Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas on Aug. 25, according to Dundov. Country Financial does not write policies in Texas.
Stroisch said Country Financial expects to have at least 75 employees on location working on hurricane-related claims. They will be located in Savannah, Ga.; Montgomery, Ala.; and Atlanta, Ga., he said.
"Because the area has already experienced heavy rains and continuous high winds, a majority of the claims we've received thus far involve fallen trees on roofs," said Stroisch.
Although neither State Farm nor Country Financial offered estimates of how high claims might be, The Associated Press reported that Citi analyst James Naklicki estimates insured losses in the United States will be about $20 billion, with total losses reaching as much as $50 billion.
As bad as that is, Naklicki said a direct hit to Miami could have resulted in losses of up to $150 billion.
Follow Lenore Sobota on Twitter @Pg_Sobota
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