Tornados that hit several townships have left many homeowners and businesses with significant damage, especially in the Fox Chapel, Allison Park, Hampton and Franklin areas. Our local Pittsburgh Public Adjuster, Zach Flora reports widespread wind and tree damage. Policyholders with tornado damage need to understand some of the basic insurance claim adjusting procedures that will play an important role to achieve a fair, expeditious claim settlement and avoid delays. Insurance companies and their teams of catastrophe adjusters may be overwhelmed given the breadth and severity of the tornado damage in Pittsburgh and volume of calls. Here are some tips and common mistakes to avoid while preparing yourself for the insurance claim process.

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If your home was destroyed or severely damaged from the Chattanooga area tornadoes to the extent that it is uninhabitable for you or your family to live, your insurance policy may provide a coverage called “Additional Living Expense” or “A.L.E.” But after speaking with some homeowners who have gone without power for weeks it appears, they need to press the issue with their home insurers. Checkout this recent local news story that makes our point: Ooltewah man still without power six and one half weeks after tornadoes

 

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In Nashville, scenes of absolute devastation still remain as if the March 3, 2020 tornadoes sliced through just yesterday. Several tornadoes were reported during the March 3^rd storm with three consisting of an EF-2, EF-3, and one large EF-4 wedge tornado that carved the largest swath of destruction throughout the Music City and surrounding areas nearly 3-months ago. Adding to the misery, the Chattanooga  - East Brainard area suffered a devastating tornado barrage on Easter Sunday as 7 tornadoes were reported to have touched down in the Tennessee Valley. The fury began around 8:15 pm and then at 11:19 pm, an EF-3 tornado with estimated wind speeds up to 145 mph touched down staying on the ground for 14 minutes.

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With the extensive wind and damage caused by the Nashville tornadoes, we are seeing policyholders rushing to get damages assessed. Both insurance company adjusters and many inexperienced contractors are eyeballing roof damage and recommending partial repairs based on simple visual inspection. This is going to cause terrible problems in the future as flying debris can damage the membrane of roofs and set people up for severe water damage in the future. In disaster situations some adjusters simply do not spend enough time assessing policyholder’s damage or taking into effect the increased cost of materials and repairs.

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Building codes require structures to be built to certain minimum standards. In areas likely to be hit by tornadoes, for example, buildings must be able to withstand high winds. If your building property was damaged and was not in compliance with current local building codes, you may have to rebuild the damaged sections according to current codes.

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Thousands throughout the Volunteer State continue to pour into regions of Middle Tennessee including the historic state capital city of Nashville to aid recovery efforts following Tuesday’s severe weather and deadly tornados. The Governor’s recent State of Emergency declaration will create a logistical nightmare for insurance companies who are scrambling to deploy teams of catastrophe adjusters to service Tennesseans who need to file insurance claims and collect monies that are vital to rebuild their damaged homes and affected businesses. 

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Its seems that all the weather experts I have heard are in agreement that we have at least three more months of El Niño influenced weather to look forward to. For the property owners that already have tornado damages from the last two Florida west coast storms you may be exposed to additional damages. So please don’t let your guard down.
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Florida has gone through a remarkable decade without any wide spread wind losses. The past two weeks broke this lucky streak when two weather events resulted in tornado damage on the west coast of Florida, most notably in Coral Springs, Siesta Key and Sarasota. It seems that most experts contribute these wind loses to the El Niño weather phenomenon currently in place. Over the next few weeks there will be a rash of tornado and wind damage insurance claims. 
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