| Katrina's
force changes insurance adjusters' tactics | | |
| Adjusters look for clues to help
them figure out which forces of nature caused which damage. They will look for
a waterline on the walls. That's important because standard homeowners policies
don't cover flooding caused by rising water. Flood insurance is for that kind
of damage. Some policies don't cover damage caused by wind-driven water blown
sideways, but will pay for damage caused by rain pouring through a roof.
"In some cases you might have what I have -- you
may have a hole in the dining room ceiling where the tree came through it, but
the rest of the house is dry," Warner says in a phone interview from Baton Rouge.
A case like Warner's doesn't pose much of a sleuthing challenge, but the job will
become more time-consuming when adjusters get into areas where roofs were blown
off, windows were shattered, and storm surge and levee breaks caused flooding. With
this disaster, a lot of homeowners are staying hundreds of miles away, making
it impossible to be there when the adjuster looks at the house. "What we're telling
these folks from out of state is when we get to your home, we're going to try
to assess as much as we can without you present, with the understanding that we
might have to come back to assess additional damages later," Warner says. Many
policies give homeowners temporary living expenses when they are displaced. Unfortunately,
some storm victims no longer have banks where they can deposit and cash those
checks. Warner says his company has worked out a deal so customers can cash their
checks at Hancock
Bank branches. Even with thousands of adjusters in the
hurricane-affected area, it's going to take a long time to inspect all of the
properties. The first wave of adjusters came in immediately after the storm, says
John Eager, senior director of claims services for the Property Casualty Insurers
Association of America. Another wave of adjusters followed after the Labor Day
weekend. Big insurance companies will set up staging areas where adjusters will
gather, then go out with lists of damaged homes sorted by ZIP code and subdivision. "It
is definitely going to take a long time," Eager says. "This storm is being worked
backwards. Normally we fly into the most damaged areas and work outwards." But
again, some parishes in Louisiana might be closed to outsiders for two or three
months -- and there's no guarantee that adjusters will go in immediately after
that. The reason for the hesitancy? The floodwater is filled
with bacteria and toxins. Even the mud could pose a danger to adjusters. "I
don't know how we'll address the safety issues for adjusters once we get down
there," Warner says. "I'm in the process of getting tetanus shots for everyone
in the field." Adjusters aren't shrinking violets. After Hurricane
Andrew, some adjusters assessed damage by boat. | 
