Based on the volume of phone calls coming into our offices, North and South Carolina business and homeowners are quickly turning their attention to recovering from Hurricane Florence. With widespread flooding and property damage, property owners unfamiliar with the process will be filing an insurance claim for the first time and possibly seeking assistance and advice for their property insurance damage claim. One of the most common questions we receive when calls come into our offices revolves around the benefits of hiring a public insurance adjuster. It still amazes us that so many policyholders have not heard of our profession or understand what public adjusters do. So, in an attempt to educate and not blow our own horn, I’ll try to answer that question in hopes of giving readers a basic understanding of what public adjusters do and the critical role they can play in the insurance claims process.

Due to the widespread, wind, flood and water damage caused by Hurricane Florence, there is likely to be a shortage of insurance adjusters to handle the volume of claims that will be reported to both the government (FEMA) and the private sector insurance carriers. For those of us in the business, we see it after every major storm. The rush to get damages assessed, by insurance company adjusters and the many inexperienced contractors eyeballing damages, will create impediments to solving policyholder claims.

Insurance payments to North and South Carolina policyholders with flood damage will depend on the policies they purchased, the language in each policy and the law of each state. Nothing is simple in property insurance adjusting. Hurricane Florence may be a textbook example of some of the issues that may have to be sorted out before there is a discussion about the actual adjustment and payment of a hurricane claim.

Our hearts go out to all the folks in Virginia, North and South Carolina affected by Hurricane Florence and the brave first responders risking their safety to assist others. Based on damage reports and our own public adjuster staff who are monitoring the situation, there is no doubt this event will rival Harvey and create insurance claim disputes unlike we’ve seen before. And if property damage wasn’t enough, the loss of power added misery to the mix. To deal with these perils it behooves property owners to keep their eye on the ball or in this case the money. High percentage hurricane deductibles are being applied and many folks may be surprised that despite their wind or hurricane coverage, they may be out of pocket for mitigation and replacement costs due to lack of flood coverage or exclusions for water - sewer back-up.

As the catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Florence unfolds, thousands of businesses and homeowners who never considered the possibility of dealing with flood damage will be investigating the claim process. We will be sending a team of adjusters to the Carolinas when authorities say it is safe to enter. So in order to offer assistance to our readers, I asked my talented staff of public adjusters to share some of the best tips they could think of for handling a flood claim. The following are some claim tips that hopefully will help folks should they have flood coverage or even windstorm damage.

Will Hurricane Florence become the Hurricane Harvey flooding event of the east coast? While the weather experts debate that issue, there is no doubt one way or another that Hurricane Florence is about to unleash a lot of misery on the mid Atlantic coast. Back in September 1989, Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston South Carolina and downtown buildings had 16 plus feet of water. Myrtle Beach just north of Charleston is now a very large tourist resort community and will have major damage if Florence keeps on its current track.

On February 21, 2018 the policyholder experienced a category 3 water loss in her Carnegie, Pittsburgh home from a broken stack pipe that runs from the second floor bathroom through the kitchen, which in return sent sewage throughout these areas of the home. Immediately upon noticing the damage the homeowner called a restoration company to mitigate the damage and called her insurance company to report the damage. Not knowing what other options she might have, she followed her insurance company’s instructions and sent their claim adjuster a few days later to inspect the loss.

After receiving a low initial offer from their insurance company for a water damage claim resulting from a leaking shower pan on the 2^nd floor, these Lithia, Fl homeowners decided to see if a public insurance adjuster could help them with their insurance claim. They contacted Tampa Public Adjuster, Scott Luginski and indicated they were unfamiliar with the claim process and simply did not have the time or knowledge to deal with the frustration of an insurance claim and negotiating a better settlement.  Once retained, Scott was able to inspect the property and noticed a considerable amount of unaccounted damage. 

Congratulations to our Pittsburgh Public Adjuster Zach Flora who recently teamed up with WPIX 11 Cares Pack the Bus initiative to donate school supplies for an entire classroom in support of the education system in Robinson Township, Allegheny County. Zach is a great example that shows giving back means more than just helping property owners with their insurance claims. Zach is an ardent supporter of education excellence and is also a product of the local school system. 

Expert Public Adjuster Dick Tutwiler explains the importance of understanding the difference between flood and water damage property insurance claims.  What to do if you have both wind and water damage. What you need to know about flood insurance to avoid claim delays.