Reaching out to clients after Sandy

What preparations did you and your team already take before the storm?

William Dalton: Days before Sandy was likely to hit the U.S. coast, we were tracking the weather channel and additional news sources. By October 22, we contacted our mobile catastrophe team in St. Louis to get ready. By Thursday and Friday it became clear that Sandy would cross the New York City area and the state of New Jersey. Our mobile claims adjusters were on standby in Pennsylvania.They live all over the country and headed towards the storm area when we called them. Pennsylvaniawas far enough inland to be safe, but they could move quickly into the affected areas.

Mary Bergjans: Disaster text messages were sent frequently to our clients to inform them the storm was headed their way and let them know our claims professionals were deployed and ready to respond. Through text messaging, Agent Email blasts, and our Agent Desktop system, we kept our clients informed on claim reporting and the option of using our claim reporting mobile application. Additionally, we kept our Facebook page updated with disaster preparedness information, storm updates, and claim reporting information.

When did your "after-storm" work begin and how?

Dalton: The first client contact after Sandy included a reminder that our dedicated catastrophe team was in the area to respond, how to report a claim, and where we were deployed. We advised our agents and made call outs to tell them where the catastrophe team was positioned to be close by in case of need. We also reached out to our vendors. We were able to respond with our catastrophe team very quickly. That’s what our agencies care most about, being able to tell clients: “We are ready to respond and have our claims professionals available.” One of our agency offices needed temporary office space, and we were able to provide that for them.

What did the adjusters experience in the field?

Dalton: Fallen trees, blocked roads, downed power lines, and homes destroyed. Every day the adjusters met with policyholders, made inspections, and documented the damage. They are recognized for their compassion, professionalism and knowledge as they climbed through rubble to obtain a thorough inspection of damaged properties. This includes climbing into attics and on rooftops. The adjusters are able to offer advice on protecting the property from further damage, turning in inventory of lost items, offering vendors who can help restore the property and items lost and many times a needed hug.

What were some of the issues that everyone had to deal with?

Bergjans: A fuel shortage was not only a challenge for the local residents, but as well for our claims professionals as they needed to be mobile to complete as many inspections in the affected areas. Our vendors were helpful to offer fuel at local airport car rental stations as well as offering gas from a tanker strategically located for our vendor’s emergency response unit as well our catastrophe team on the ground. Reaching our clients initially was a challenge due to widespread power outages and lack of cellular phone service. Access to communities and roads was a significant challenge due to downed power lines and road detours.   

What makes you proud about the last weeks?

Bergjans: It’s our promise to be there at our clients’ time of need. The feedback from both agents and policyholders was amazing. They appreciated seeing our presence and were relieved that we were available so soon. Once the claims team hit the ground, our field adjusters made sure they could be identified by having branding on their clothes and cars and found creative ways to get to our policyholders in areas where there was limited access, avoiding delays to make first contact.

How long will we see the effects of Sandy?

Dalton: This event had so many ingredients: flooding, extreme winds, so many people that were affected. We will probably be busy with Sandy well into the first quarter of next year, maybe longer. Weather forecasters predict a tougher winter than usual. In some of the affected areas they already saw the first snow. Weather might make getting back to normal for everyone more difficult.

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