For many years, while working aviation claims, I was involved quite often  with fatialities, sometimes multiple. It was not easy and as a consequence of seeing too many very badly mutilated bodies, my brain said, that is enough. Fatalities are hard on anyone, but having to deal with the families and often shedding tears with them, your mind has a tendency to shut down. That is the reason I left aviation claims adjusting. 25 years of that and finally worked a loss where two friends of mine went into a spin, crashed on a golf course in Little Rock, while all the time I was listening to the tower and the fear in the pilots voice as he knew he had developed vertigo. He did not have an IFR license to fly in that soup, (fog). I got to the golf course some 20 minutes after the crash and discovered it was a friend of mine and his wife. I covered their mutilated bodies with as much material that I could find and waited for the FAA to get there. That was it for me. I ended up handling the claim and that was the final touch.

So far, I have not had to work with a family that lost a family member in a hurricane, but have in a tornado event. I guess it just goes with this job, unfortunately. Sometimes you have got to be resilient in this business. It is hard enough for families to lose all they have worked for, much less death.

Yes, dealing with claims of the deceased are never easy.  But there's a big difference when the claim is a result of the death and not property damage of the deceased.  Being called out to an auto accident scene and witnessing the mess, and then meeting with the claimants' family later is a much more emotional process.  Or meeting with the family of the child who drowned in the baby sitter's swimming pool, or the child who was mauled by the pit bull down the street that was not on a leash and chain, or the worker who died when a trench caved in on him.   My very first year in this profession as a staff adjuster presented me with 8 such occasions, and the 7 other adjusters and my state manager learned along with me.  They all had several years more experience, but between them combined had not received that many fatality claims in their careers.  But thanks to their help, and the authority that my employer allowed this young adjuster (at that time), only 1 of those cases became attorney represented.  More fatalities were to follow, but then like Tom, the gray hairs arrived early and this adjuster found the jadedness steering him away from handling those types of claims.  

"There is a photo in the adjuster gallery under "Katrina" that shows the spray paint on the front of the house "1 in attic"."

In spite of the fact I have been in this industry a while, it always causes a funny feeling in the stomach when you run into a situation where someone died. When I entered to house in the photo, the insured was not able to be there (Lakeview). He had not warned me that his tenant had died. As I walked into the kitchen I didn't notice the fridge was open, and caught a lungfull of the smell.  It was very difficult to complete the inspection.

I did find out the story later on. The tenant was an elderly lady, her car was still parked in the car port. She had pets and couldn't take them to the shelter; she stayed for her animals, She must have climbed into the attic to escape the water. No idea how many days she survived.

It can be very easy to forget we are dealing with people not just buildings ( or cars).

Actually, paremedics, police officers, ER personnel, etc., go through a lot of emotional turmoil too on these losses.  In fact, more often and regularly than adjusters do. 

But adjusters then have to face the families and surviving witnesses to these tragedies in the days/weeks/months that follow...and as a representative of the responsible party.  Cases of clear cut liability don't make it any easier for anyone involved, and writing a check doesn't wash it away.  Those memories are always there.

I hear ya. It seems a tornado gives less warning before it hits, compared to a big 'ol hurricane crawling across the ocean toward the mainland.

And a tornado will keep some adjusters busy - but the narrow focus of damage would not bring out the typical wave of catastrophe adjusters like a hurricane. It's more of a surgical strike.

Never worked a storm or fire claim with a death involved. Worked several auto, general liability, workers comp.