Insurance Lessons After Katrina
Take inventory of your belongings and make sure you have enough coverage before storm season. And be prepared to wait months for a claims to be paid if disaster strikes.
By Kimberly Lankford, Contributing Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
October 19, 2005
It only took minutes for a 30-foot storm surge to engulf the entire town of Bay St. Louis, Miss.
"In our area, roughly 70% to 80% of the homes were totally destroyed," says insurance agent David Treutel, whose own home drowned in 12 feet of water. The only salvageable items now fit in a small closet beneath the stairs in a house he rents in Mobile, Ala. He expects it will cost about $350,000 to rebuild his home, which is now a brick skeleton. And insurance may cover only a portion of the cost.
Every day David and wife Angelyn drove two hours from Mobile to Bay St. Louis to personally meet with clients, who all have insurance claims from the August 29 storm. Without phone service, electricity, working cell phones, or even an office -- that building was destroyed by eight feet of water -- the Treutels started doing business under a tent in the middle of their devastated town. After Hurricane Rita blew the tent away, they moved into a trailer.
More than six weeks later, about 100 people continue to wandered into the makeshift office to file claims, meet with adjusters (Safeco's showed up just four days after the storm) and get updates.
Their experience shows how insurance can work under extreme circumstances -- and ways to get help with the challenges.