"This msg comes from my cell phone. I just got off the phone with an insured. he says that he is a houston tx city code officer for nineteen years. says power co has two mil customers with one point six out of power. no power, no fuel around houston, many roads closed and detour.urgent'''''' claims from biloxi to tx they have major detours no gas or power or communication. he told me do no drive on hwy ten go up to hwy twenty. fyi just wanted to let u know".

This is an e-mail that I received. NO GAS, NO COMMUNICATIONS, HOTELS BOOKED, BAD CONDITIONS.

Be sure you have plenty of gas, water, food, and a bed roll as you may be sleeping in your claims vehicle. Be prepared for the worst and the fact that you may not get into Galveston for a week or more. Please be careful and know as much as you can before you head toward Houston. It does not look good for early deplyoment.

If anyone locates housing, or knows of available lodgng, RV Parks and so on, please consider providing that information by posting it on the Bulletin Board.

Another twist is Ike did a lot of damage after he left TX is going to retard recovery in Houston. Other states like KY got hit hard. At the house we have been out of power for 34 hours already (since 1986 the max down time was 8 hours) and it will be another 1.5 days before all in our county are five again. Just got an email from Louisville where some can expect 10-20 days to get power restored.

Our power company has recalled its crews in from the Gulf and they are to be back into town in about 6 hours. In the four-five state region outside of TX that got hit with hurricane force winds there is anoter 1.5 million without power which will impact TX recovery because of the resources needed have greatly increased.

This should mean long hours for IA's who did not deploy to TX because the carrier staff adjusters have been pulled to TX and now AR, MO, KY, IL, etc have a huge number of claims. In 57 years I have never seen the damage we have in our region of KY. We have 12 school systems shut down because of no power in the classrooms.

The secondary damages due to Ike the tropical storm are going to drive up the total insured cost I expect. Try to stay safe where you are working at home or on the road.

I was told By several Adjusters they have booked, checked into and are currently staying at hotels in Houston. All with Power, Internet, and water. Go to www.hotels.com is what they told me!

That is good news. I expect you will like working these claims. We did get our power back today after it being off for 50 hours. The towns were not out of power that long. The claims should be low stress claims compared to those in Houston. There will be a lot of roof claims and things falling trees can crush but not death and total wipe outs like on the gulf. The roads have all been cleared for fallen trees. If you get down to the west end of the state I will take you to Bad Bob's Barbecue.

We were down to my father in law tonight who is 92 and he said he has never seen this kind of broad damage in KY in his life time. A former staff member who lives in Louisville emailed yesterday what it was going to be another 10+ days before everyone had power again. The huge oak trees really made a mess out of the power grid. Did I say the people are very nice as well?

The wind that pealed the roof off of the UPS Louisiville hub hanger roof was 74 MPH so in places the damage is in line with a CAT 1 hurricane. The strange part in our area there was little rain and it came before the damaging winds. We had thought we would get a lot of rain because we needed it but we got one tenth of an inch and a lot of 50-60 MPH wind. I actually moved our old MH out of the drive into an open field because there was no way to know what was happening and the radar was clear. It just was Ike meeting with a cold front. Katrina brought us little wind but eleven inchs of rain in 2005.

www.sanduskyregister.com/articles/2...348203.txt

If one reads the full article it is easy to understand why TX adjusters are working claims in our state and the multi state region. Ohio had 2.6 million without power and it will be the weekend before all with have power restored. Like KY Ohio also recalled line crews from TX so that is just going to make the TX recovery that much longer. The MS, TN and OH valley areas are not designed to cope with hurricane force winds and may make IKE a record breaking hurricane as far as number of claims he will produce and I still think the non TX claims may outnumber the TX IKE claim count. As power and phone service returns the number of claims filed may jump greatly. From some local reports the agents are stating they do not know when they will have an adjuster out to inspect losses.

From photos clearly the Houston area is in a world of hurt in all aspects. My point is only that with an area larger than TX with IKE damage and claims it is just going to tie up the needed manpower to get services back in place and to address the TX claims that will need to be settled. Some think it may take the rest of the year to get the damaged and quickly repaired power grid back up to top shape before the ice storm season arrives. The line crews have to start over on making full repairs after they get everyone power again.

What a year between the weather, political and financial storms and the hurricane season is not over yet. I promise you we will never again view hurricanes as only a coastal issue.

Im here in Downtown Houston, Simple to get a room, Fuel prices are $3.69 a gallon widespread. I have been seeing many Claim files and I would figure an average Claim of 15K or less. Broken tree limbs here and there, And Power in most neighborhoods until you head westerly from Houston. Texas Utilities People everywhere.

I am headed to Galveston area Tomorrow at which time I will post damages, I am Assuming Damages to be more significant.

Yeah, I agree with the average claim values. There are certainly some "huge" claims, but so many that I am seeing are right in that range or lower - and the deductibles are often 2% of the policy limit for hurricane (assuming it's the same carrier as homeowner policy and not TWIA).

Many of these people "forgot" they opted for lower premium (bigger deductible). Taking $2,000 to $7,000 off the bottom line for deductible is common on my files, but we can't let it affect the scope of repair we are writing for.

Hi Roy,

I'm a bit of a "lurker" here on Catadjusters, but will be heading to Houston early next week.  I see you mentioned it was "simple to get a room".  I am just not having that kind of success.  Any tips you can pass along on how to find a spot in or around Houston?  Got a room where you are staying?? any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!