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olderthendirt
USA
370 Posts |
 Posted - 09/20/2003 : 18:15:14
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| Amazing, most in the damage area do not have power, the agents are closed and have no power, the waters are still receding, and they know they do not have enough claims? Unless they rolled enough staff for a cat 4 that is really amazing. |
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ckleisch
USA
46 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2003 : 12:11:07
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Greetings
I have just received both my electricity and cable back this morning after a wretched few days without. I am extremely lucky in this as we live only a 1/4 mile from the the central grid for both. Elizabeth city where I live is devestated. Trees are down on cars, homes and streets. Even today travel is limited by residents. There are a few restauraunts with power but they are limited for the feeding of official personel only. There is no food, no lodging, no gas. There is a dusk to dawn curfew. Those with foreign tags and no local identification are being sent elsewhere. Telephone/power and police are all that are allowed allowed to run at night. There has been some looting which has been handled direct by local residences. Areas to the west of me like Hertford, Ahoskie, Edenton are devestated worse than we are and it is estimated three weeks will be necessary to return things to normal there. At present over in Currituck county they have partial electricity in the Grandy area with a Foodlion and 7-11. Corolla was unaffected and was areas north of Duck. Below Duck it is a war zone. The road along twelve from the Exxon cutoff at the walmart south to the Post office has ceased to exist. The road is gone and what was West side property is now Beach front. At thepost office the water surge now extends to the 7-11 on the Bi-pass. South nags Head from Whalebone junction south does not exist anymore and no one is allowed in the area. Only, residents are allowed on the island and you have to have proof of address on a NC license for entry. Corolla is open to everyone as no damage there. Any thing south of the walmart as said is verbooten. Rodanthe beach is gone. Avon at the corner turn the hotels there are gone . The town of hatteras ceases to exist. There is a new 800yd inlet that divides this area from the outside world. food has been delivered in the form of MREs. Cellphone traffic is varied around here. Cable and internet service is non-existant. those with any claims in Manteo and Wanchese can expect only access through RT64 and from Williamston if the local police in Tyrell County will allow you through. I can tell you that the Holiday Inn here is up and running. Gas is non-existant. Luckly I forsaw what was going to happen and i purchased a quantity in advance. To the North of us RT 17 through the Dismal Swamp was closed as was Rt 158 from the west. i believe 168 is open but it is logjambed with northerners wanting to go to their vacations and are being turned back. To the north of us in Va beach, chesapeake and norfolk things are not much better with curfews, lack of power and shortages on gas. Bottom line yes there are going to be a ton of claims for everyone to handle. Dont, be in any hurry to get here as you got no where to go. Agents without power and phone can not take loss notices from folks in the the same posistion. Give it a week and things should be popping. Make sure you have an NC License on you. Bring plenty of gas from home before leaving and bring canned goods you can cook on a propane grill and you will be ok.
So to all happy hunting and be safe in your claims handling. if you need any local advise or assistance please advise. |
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Jgoodman
USA
9 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2003 : 14:12:35
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I as well just got my power and DSL back at my office. Still no power at home.
I am located in Virginia Beach, VA.
Damage here, that I have seen, is light. Not near what I saw when I worked Opal, Erin, Bertha or Fran. Of course Va Beach was not the place this storm came ashore.
Quite a bit of the area still has no power, so claims reporting for the Tidewater region will be slow.
The damage in NE NC seems much greater from reading the paper. I have learned that the media shows the most spectacular damage and is not a reliable guage of how widespread are the smaller claims.
Most gas stations are closed and the opens that are open quickly run out of the new deliveries. Ice is in short supply due to the widespread power outages. The town is still under a curfew. Less than half the businesses can open. I live behind the an elementary school which still has no power, so I do not think the schools will be opening tommorrow. My cell phone would not work until 8:00 PM last nite.
So there will probably be many more claims reported as power and phones come back up. Due how geographically widespread the damage was I think there will be many claims, just spread out over a large area.
If anyone needs local info, email me. I am charging the laptop batteries here at the office so I can check email from my powerless residence.
I am presently in the middle of a rollout of one of my custom apps, which has to be in place by October 1, 2003. (A Do Not Call Program for telemarketers, my program prevents those on the Federal Do Not Call List from being called.) But after that I may be available for claims work or clean up.
If you are in the area and need computer service or repair, shoot me an email. I have a three server, nine station network, as well as several insurance applications (Storm adjusting company management, Adjuster claims management, etc) if you have need of those type of services as well. I usually check email several times a day.
If anyone is in the area and would like to meet for dinner when things slow down, email me as well. I would like to put names to faces, if possible.
Email me at JGoodman@stormcentral.com.
Hope everyone has a profitable storm. Please try to be compassionate as many people have had their lives turned upside down.
Jeff Goodman
Goodman Enterprises
www.stormcentral.com
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aadco
2 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2003 : 16:02:05
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| Does anyone have an idea of how many auto claims this storm should produce? I was just wondering if this storm will produce many auto claims? I don't do property, So I am concerned that there want be many auto claims. Any imput would be great! |
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ckleisch
USA
46 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2003 : 16:26:49
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| in our area the majority I say 80% of auto is written by nationwide, state farm and NC Farm Bureau as is property. They already have teams scurrying the area which are home based with trailers. |
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pilot48
USA
78 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2003 : 18:43:23
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| I've got Nationwide and NC Farm Bureau property, it looks like a good fair volume, considering the over all scope of damage. |
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cajunboy696
USA
15 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2003 : 19:23:13
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| I've been on location for three days now and from what I have seen, initial claim loads are pretty good. However, individual claim size seems to be kind of small on the average (residential). I'm with a small firm focusing primarily on commercial losses here in NC. On the commercial side the exact opposite seems to be true, very few losses but healthy ones. My guess is that for most adjusters this will be a five to six week trip, with lower than expected billing. |
Kevin |
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TedPasan
82 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2003 : 23:34:54
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I am in and have been in Washington, NC since yesterday (Saturday) morning early and have been handling claims in Hyde (Swan Quarter) and Tyrell (Columbus) counties, and have traveled in Martin, Washington, Beaufort, Pitt, Edgecombe, Nash, and Wilson counties. There is no power and generally little telephone from east of Washington to the coast. As has been said, because there is no power down in this area, the gasoline stations and restaurants are not open, so when you can find gas, expect long lines for a fill-up. Washington has become a central staging area for the time being for counties from here east to the sounds, as motels east of here cannot open for lack of electricity, which may takes weeks to be restored. Motels and hotels in Washington are full with no rooms available until power is restored to areas east and the motels in that direction.
Police curfews are in effect and most towns and counties east of here from 6 PM to 6 AM and there is a large police and National Guard presence. The only food and cold drinks available other than what the adjuster brings in themself, is from the Red Cross, Salvation Army mobile food stations which are present around most of these far northeastern NC counties at local and town fire stations.
As a for instance, the City of Charleston, SC in an effort to repay others for their help during Hurricane Hugo, has sent 35 Charleston City firemen and their vehicles as well as 18 city policemen and their vehicles to Hyde County to help with police and emergency services. None of the 911 telephone systems are in operation in at least 7-8 of these counties. And with the influx of police, emergency, and assitance employees, there is a great strain on finding motel and other service facilities, and as usually occurs, some reports of price gouging. Ice is availble for free at the town fire stations and other facilities where aid and assistance centers have been set up to aid and feed local residents in these counties.
Highway 64 west of Columbus is open, but I have no awareness of the situation east of Columbus. From what I have seen, there is not all that much covered wind damage to residences, but there are in places a lot of downed trees. Wind damage which is covered is "light" and one of the Grain Dealer adjusters here said that of 10 claims inspected yesterday, 8 had damages less than $1,000.00 which is consistent with what a Farm Bureau adjuster said he saw today, and of some 34 claims I have inspected in the past two days, only 2 had damages in excess of $1,000.00 (I have claims which were well zoned which allowed that number of inspections). Flooding damage down here is significant everywhere, so flood adjusters should have a good year. I have seen very little wind damage to vehicles but there will be a lot of vehicles "totalled" due to flood (8 sheriff's patrol cars in Hyde County alone) and the entire sheriff's fleet in Tyrell County from a large pecan tree falling across the sheriff's parking lot.
I am hearing very mixed reports from Norfolk, and basically from what I hear, the wind damages are light, but the Norfolk area is more densely populated so obviously there will be more claims. I still suggest for the average wind adjuster this will be less than a 3 week storm, and most adjusters down here now only have claim counts of 10 or fewer claims.
For those adjusters without an assignment, I would not recommend coming in here without an assignment, and I am hearing of adjusters who have come in here and been sent home for claims not materializing.
I'm off tomorrow to Ocracoke Island (by ferry) to inspect damages there, and will try and post details of the losses there tomorrow night. (Ferry reservations must be made in advance, and I had to get authorization from the Hyde County Manager in order to get permission to obtain a ferry reservation and access the island and only then in order to inspect a property owned by Hyde County government).
Please be careful out there and work safely. We don't want to lose any of you.
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Edited by - TedPasan on 09/21/2003 23:50:35 |
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ALANJ
USA
159 Posts |
Posted - 09/22/2003 : 06:02:31
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| Don't forget, FEMA will require everyone to turn in a Homeowners claim before they will process any loan or grant for repairs. |
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william s cook
53 Posts |
Posted - 09/22/2003 : 07:42:54
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This thread should be dedicated to onsite adjusters sharing information such as just posted by Mr. Pasan. Soon to be improved communications between insureds and agents will serve to clarify the full extent of the damages and the prime areas. Absent full preparations for working claims with the many handicaps that always accompany a widespread disaster such as this, often makes the project not worthwhile. Thanks Ted, for taking the time to share the information regarding the local conditions in your area.
William S Cook |
Edited by - william s cook on 09/22/2003 12:24:03 |
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scottposton
USA
28 Posts |
Posted - 09/22/2003 : 14:01:09
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| Just got off telephone with one of my major carriers and a couple of my daily vendors. Thus far here is what all three have relayed. Claims volume (on auto) is very low at this point. What they do have is very minor and very limited and from areas where power (for telephone service, both landline and cell) has been restored. What they are expecting is that by the end of the week to the first of next week they will begin to see an extremely large volume of claims for the most devestated areas. They have some folks on site getting a general scope of the damage and thus far looks to be heavy. Again keep in mind the hardest hit areas still have no power or telephone service and given the circumstances a call to the carrier is the last thing on their mind right this minute. Someone reported earlier that was on site that they don't even have ice, gas or rooms in these areas. For those of us who do auto look to be getting busy in the next week on this storm. |
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tinman
USA
4 Posts |
Posted - 09/24/2003 : 00:49:53
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| I've been hearing and reading different figures on Isabel and I just wanted to know what the estimated amount of claims is going to be or is it still too early to tell? Wind & Flood. |
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tinman
USA
4 Posts |
Posted - 09/24/2003 : 00:52:41
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| I wasn't specific. Total amount of homeowners claims. Wind and Flood. Thanks |
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Bo Peep
3 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2003 : 07:30:36
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Sounds like someone is getting claims. I have worked a few storms but Izzy is my first hurricane. I have been in North Carolina and signed up with a vendor since Friday 9/19/03.
Today is Wednesday 9/24/03 and I still have not been assigned any claims to work. The vendor assures me the claims are coming, to hold on a few more days. Should I be concerned or is this normal in a hurricane situation?
Also I would like to hear from other adjusters working Isabel that are already working claims.
Bo Peep
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Bo Peep |
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Ghostbuster
476 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2003 : 08:09:47
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Sounds to me like you have been hosed. While you're just sitting around, you might want to call some other vendors and see what that might bring.
One week on site and no claims???, I'd be beyond irate at this point. But, that's just me. |
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Claims - Isabel
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