Hundreds of Adjusters Are Traveling to Damaged Areas

[Guest guest]

FYI, The claims adjusters may not be able to determine the total value of

property damages as of yet, but the insurers should, and as I understand it

are, cutting checks for ALE (alternative living expenses). People should be

reading their homeowners' policies to see how much ALE is included in their

policies. This is a standand element of an HO policy. They then need to contact

their insurers. As I understand it, in many cases insurers are cutting

checks ASAP and people just have to go pick them up at the nearest field office

in

whatever city they are currently residing.

Sharon

Hundreds of Adjusters Traveling Toward Damaged Areas, But Have Few Places to

Stay

September 2, 2005

Teams of hundreds of insurance adjusters have been dispatched to begin

evaluating and filing claims in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. They expect

to

start their tedious jobs right after Labor day, now that they are being given

permission to move through checkpoints into storm-damaged areas.

One team of adjusters told Insurance Journal they had been in Miami since

Katrina hit there, but had been asked to complete their outstanding work in

South Florida Friday and Saturday and were being sent north on Sunday. They

said, however, that the only place they could obtain accommodations was in

Destin, Fla. and would have to commute more than 100 miles to Mobile, Ala. to

investigate claims there, and would have to make the commute until closer

accommodations were obtained.

As an indication of how bad the hotel-room situation was, one of our readers

in California commented at www.insurancejournal.com, that her father was

being " kicked out of a hotel because its rooms were booked up in advance:

" The Days Inn in Tucaloosa, Ala. is telling guests that they have to leave

Thur. Sept. 1 because fans (that are coming from their untouched homes), have

booked the rooms for this weekend's game.

" My 80-year-old father is among them (ed. Note: those being asked to leave

the hotel). He needs to stay. He has no power or water at his home in

Mississippi. He is on a nebulizer for breathing. "

Eager, senior director for claims with the Chicago-based Property

Casualty Insurers Association of America, told The Associated Press that

adjusters

- who must evaluate the damage to homes and businesses before claims can be

approved - had begun getting permission to move through checkpoints into

storm-damaged areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

" We believe there will be quite a few deployments over the weekend, " Eager

told a news conference. " By Monday, we should have a lot of them deployed. "

Eager noted that in most disasters, adjusters move to the hardest hit areas

first and work their way toward outlying areas. In the wake of Katrina,

however, they've started on the perimeter and are working their way in, he

said.

St. Travelers Cos. Inc. spokeswoman Wislocki said the company

sent about 100 people to the damaged area to collect claims, with 500 more

standing by around the rest of the country. She said adjusters can't get into

New Orleans yet, but they've been working in , Miss., and Birmingham,

Ala.

" Safety is a concern because of reports of looting and armed robberies in

some of the Gulf Coast cities hit by the hurricane earlier this week, "

PCIA vice president said. He added that standing flood water also was a

concern, as were downed power lines, debris and even snakes.

said it was too early to give updated estimates of the cost of the

storm for insurers. Rick assessment firms have said insured losses could total

up to $25 billion.

That would make Katrina the most expensive hurricane ever, surpassing the $21

billion inflation-adjusted cost for Hurricane in 1992.

told The Associated Press that there likely will be " significant

uninsured losses, " too, but did not give an estimate.

Standard & Poor's said on Thursday that damage from Hurricane Katrina could

reach $50 billion after damage to bridges, roads and other public

infrastructure is taken into account.