Beyond Katrina

AIR lowers Hurricane Dolly loss estimate

Catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide Corp. has again revise downwards its loss estimate for Hurricane Dolly to between $350 million and $700 million. Continue...

Hurricane Dolly May Cost $1.2 Billion in U.S. Claims (Update1)

     July 23 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Dolly, the storm that came ashore in southern Texas today, may cost insurers as much as $1.2 billion in the U.S., a firm that models losses from natural disasters said. More >>>

GEICO CAT teams on stand-by for Hurricane Dolly victims

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, Jul 23, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- GEICO's Catastrophe Response Teams (CAT) are on standby, ready to assist if vehicles are damaged as Hurricane Dolly touches down in South Texas.                    

            Gary Brown, GEICO's regional vice president for Texas, says that catastrophe information is available at  www.geico.com with preparedness tips, links to other important hurricane information and weather sites, and immediate claims handling capabilities.        

                   

GEICO urges policyholders to take all necessary steps to protect their families, their homes and their vehicles prior to the storm.        

           

All GEICO policyholders are urged to log on to  www.geico.com or call 1-800-841-3000 as soon as any storm damage affects them and their claims will be processed immediately. GEICO will dispatch special claims teams to damaged areas, if necessary, to help get people back on the road.

SOURCE: GEICO
       

The Hanover Ready to Serve Policyholders Impacted by Hurricane Dolly

            HOUSTON, July 23, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- The Hanover Insurance Group, a leading super regional property and casualty company, today announced it is prepared to respond to claims resulting from Hurricane Dolly, which is sweeping through southern Texas today.

            "We are deeply concerned about individuals and businesses in Dolly's path," said Robin A. Nicks, president of The Hanover's Central Region. "Our staff is standing by ready to aid our independent agent partners and their customers throughout the recovery process."

       

                   

            CLAIMS REPORTING INFORMATION        

           

            The Hanover customers can submit claims by contacting their local independent agent or calling the company's toll-free customer service line at (800) 628-0250, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Customers are advised to locate their policies, if possible, before calling their agent or the company, to expedite the claim reporting process.        

CNA Opens Catastrophe Operations Center to Process Claims Relating to Hurricane Dolly

Today, CNA insurance companies announced that a Catastrophe Operations Center within its Nashville, Tennessee office is fully operational in preparation for handling anticipated claims from Hurricane Dolly. All new Hurricane Dolly losses should be reported through Innovation First Notice (IFN), as follows: Voice Line 1-877-CNA-ASAP (1-877-262-2727) Fax Line 1-800-953-7389 E-mail lossreport@cnaasap.com Once the losses have been reported to Innovation First Notice, CNA’s professional claim staff will be on hand in the Nashville Catastrophe Operations Center to assist with policyholders’ daily needs. The designated telephone and fax numbers for the Catastrophe Operations Center are: Voice Line 1-877-706-0671 Fax Line 1-877-706-0672

Insurers Shift Cost Burdens to Homeowners

industry experts and consumer advocates say that efforts by the insurers to increase profits, after years of taking losses on home insurance, are shifting more of the burden of repairs and reconstruction to homeowners. The cutbacks in coverage, consumer advocates say, have contributed to the slow recovery of the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Katrina and will most likely hamper recovery from the recent wildfires in California. Continue at The New York Times.

Allstate, Nationwide Show Support For NFIP Expansion

WASHINGTON—Allstate and Nationwide are bucking a large insurance industry segment by throwing their support behind some form of expansion of the National Flood Insurance Program to include windstorm coverage. And Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., a member of the Senate Republican leadership, is also voicing measured support for the concept involved in the legislation—H.R. 920, the Multiple Peril Insurance Act. Continue at National Underwriter

What would a $500 billion hurricane do to premiums?

Based on current development patterns, researchers with the National Hurricane Center and other agencies say, in little more than decade we could be looking at damage that dwarfs Katrina. How bad could it be?
According to the Houston Chronicle, researchers say that by 2020 a major metropolitan area of the United States — Miami, for example — could, if hit by the right storm, suffer $500 billion in losses. Katrina's toll? About $80 billion. Continue at Pensacola News Journal.

5-Year Hurricane Modeling System For Insurance Rates Is On Hold

Property insurance companies are barred from using a  controversial software model to estimate storms and set rates. The new model  predicted hurricane activity five years in the future instead of utilizing the  long-term historical storm data to estimate storms, a long held industry practice. The result was the prediction of higher hurricane losses.  The model came under question when the Tampa Tribune published a series of articles raising questions about how it was developed. More here.

Fla. University and AIR Work toward Understanding of Hurricane Vulnerabilities

AIR Worldwide Corporation is collaborating with the International Hurricane Research Center and the College of Engineering and Computing at Florida International University and will fund the installation of the "AIR Turntable" for the "RenaissanceRe Wall of Wind" hurricane simulator.

"Just as the effective monitoring of car crash tests drastically changed automobile safety through the introduction of air bags, the IHRC research team intends to do the same for the housing industry through full-scale testing of buildings and their components," said Director Stephen P. Leatherman.

The AIR Turntable is a computer controlled, mechanical platform which will be used to better evaluate extreme wind loading conditions by facilitating the testing of buildings at different angles of attack. The AIR Turntable will be programmed to simulate directionality-change effects on test structures.

"The WOW testing aided by the capabilities of the AIR Turntable will revolutionize our residential and commercial construction and retrofitting practices and lead to more effective methods of strengthening buildings against extreme winds," Leatherman said.

The WOW structure includes an array of six industrial fans capable of replicating Category 4 hurricane conditions with winds up to 140 mph. The simulation will allow scientists to study the impact of hurricane-force winds and wind-driven precipitation on a variety of building types and materials, as well as construction methods.

The AIR Turntable is part of the WOW facility which is being constructed on the Engineering campus of Florida International University. The state-of-the art testing facility will enable full-scale structural testing.

By eliminating scaling errors, full-scale testing provides a more realistic simulation, which is crucial to better understanding the effects of extreme winds on buildings, materials, and construction methods. Although several universities, private industries, and government laboratories have experimental and testing facilities for wind engineering, no other facility in the U.S. is currently capable of testing full-scale buildings to destruction.

"AIR is committed to researching mitigation technologies in order to reduce the vulnerability of properties in extreme wind events such as hurricanes," said Jayanta Guin, senior vice president of research and modeling at AIR Worldwide. "The findings from this research project should lead to improved mitigation strategies and better building methods, which will ultimately help reduce economic losses from future catastrophes."

The testing facility is slated to be completed in late Summer 2007. The WOW project is also supported by Renaissance Reinsurance Holdings Ltd. and the State of Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Source: Business Wire