Lisa Elliott on Hurricane Charley
Date: 7/15/2004Contact: Joan Barrett/800-690-0070
She is lovelier than most models and speaks quietly about her experiences as one of the first wave of adjusters to volunteer to go to Florida to help with the Catastrophe Teams after Hurricane Charley struck. Lisa Kaestner has stoicism about her but wells up during policyholder’s tales of hardship and loss. “How well you listen to the people will make the claims experience more successful in most cases.” Lisa states.
Lisa’s company, Allied Insurance on the West Coast and it’s parent, Nationwide Insurance on the East Coast, has the catastrophe business down to a science. On checking in with the Catastrophe Center in Florida, she was assigned a Team Leader, lodging, a computer and printer and a van with a wireless card and plug-in capability to settle core claims on the spot, right from the vehicle in a lot of cases. With Allied/Nationwide’s exposure in Florida at an estimated 75,000 auto, commercial, marine and homeowner claims, they are counting on their ‘cat teams’ to close as many of the files as possible during their 3 to 6-week assignments. Each of the 16 regional claims centers around the US has supplied adjusters to the Florida catastrophe and will continue to do so as long as the claims remain at catastrophe level. Lisa feels that the experience was very gratifying and found such wonderful camaraderie with her fellow adjusters from around the country. They all helped one another when they could during their long days with work stretching into the evenings most times. Her team was as prepared as possible for loss of power when the second hurricane Frances hit, but was fortunate that the damage to the area they were staying in was minimal and they did not have to evacuate.
The West Coast adjusters had some adjusting of their own to do, the unfamiliar terms ‘pool cage’ and ‘lanai’ had to be absorbed since most of the screened ‘pool cages’ that enclose pools from bugs and critters will have to be re-screened if they still exist. The effects of the hurricane winds inside a house are amazing, Lisa said, with debris and tree branches from blown-out windows being whipped around inside the house causing damage wherever they hit. Major hurdles for the insurers are code issues since codes have been adapted since Hurricane Andrew to make the buildings safer during hurricanes. Many times the house has to razed as a result of the new requirements, driving the cost of replacement through the nonexistent roof.
The general devastation of entire areas is hard to describe, Lisa admits, but her photos of the area she worked along the East Coast in the Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte regions tell the story. She relates how the weather conditions of heat and high humidity make it difficult to work on rooftops that won’t see a contractor for repairs for weeks if not months. Power loss means that a lot of telephones are out, making it impossible to schedule appointments with policyholders so the adjusters just drive by and hope to catch someone at the house. When she did make contact with the policyholders, Lisa was amazed at how nice and cooperative the hurricane victims were and she wonders if the situation will change when she returns to Florida for another tour of duty with the beleaguered Floridians.
Love will enter into Lisa’s plans as she and Scott Elliott, also on the Allied Insurance Company’s staff, will be married in Minnesota in October. She has informed the company of her wedding date and has been assured that the management will make every effort to accommodate the newlyweds before sending Lisa back to handle more catastrophe claims. Others with the company have had vacations cancelled and Lisa is hopeful that Allied will find other volunteers for Cat Duty until after her and Scott’s wedding and honeymoon.