Agents Respond To Hurricane Bonnie

As Hurricane Bonnie calms, the nation's insurance companies are springing into action. Although it is too early to predict the total number of claims from Hurricane Bonnie or the anticipated total policyholder loss, the bulk of claims will come from North Carolina, which took the brunt of the storm.

As of Thursday afternoon, some 1,000 claims had been received by Nationwide Insurance, which is employing at least 1,000 agents and claims personnel in processing the claims of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia policyholders whose properties were damaged by Hurricane Bonnie. Paul Thompson, vice president of claims for Nationwide, says he anticipates the claims volume will increase once people who evacuated their homes return and telephone service is restored.

According to Patricia Hillis, assistant vice president of public relations for SAFECO, it's important to get in touch with your insurance company as soon as possible. "We can help you get organized, answer your questions and get the claims process started," Hillis says. SAFECO and American States have combined their operations to deal with their policyholders' catastrophe claims. Hillis explains that homeowners should make any temporary repairs to protect their property from further damage as they can without endangering themselves. She also advises writing out a list of problems and issues that need to be discussed with an insurance adjuster and making sure that nothing gets thrown away. Adjusters will need to see anything that's been damaged.

"You should keep all your receipts for emergency repairs," Hillis explains. "We know this is a difficult time to deal with such details, but the more information you have ready for your adjuster, the faster and easier the claims process will go."

Nationwide's toll-free hotline for reporting claims is 1-800-421-3535. SAFECO and American States' 24-hour toll-free catastrophe claims number is 1-888-723-3265.