Insurance claims for Texas storm damage could be in the billions

texas flood insurance insurance claims hurricane ike 2008

The industry has predicted that when the spring flooding eases, there will be massive devastation left behind.

The spring storms that have been relentlessly tormenting Texas will soon be sending their costs over to insurers as policyholders begin to make their insurance claims for the flooding and other types of damage that have been left behind.

The damage estimates have shown that there will be billions of dollars in insured damages.

Those estimates include only the types of expense that will likely be covered by insurance claims. The total damage figures will probably be considerably higher than that as spring storms simply would not let up. Last Friday, an additional 24 counties in Texas were added to the disaster declaration by Governor Greg Abbott. This brought the total to 70, which was the most recent figure by the time of the writing of this article. The Department of Public Safety has stated that about seven of those counties have had the opportunity to actually conduct surveys and create reports on the damage that has been left behind.

This type of report needs to start coming in before actual insurance claims estimates can be formed.

texas flood insurance claims hurricane ike 2008Texas must show that there has been a minimum of 800 homes that have experienced major damage in order to make it possible for families to qualify for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Among the uninsured, it has already been predicted that there will be over $35 million in damages, and Texas state as well as its cities will need to try to find some way to be able to come up with the funds to assist those individuals. This is not expected to occur rapidly.

According to the Texas Division of Emergency Management chief, Nim Kidd, “It’s more of a long-term process, like an insurance claim of where the federal damages are and ensuring that there is not a duplication of benefits.”

The Department of Public Safety in Texas has explained that the fact that the weather has yet to let up has stopped crews from being able to conduct damage assessments in many of the counties that have suffered the most. This could mean that insurance claims and federal assistance, alike, could still be a long time away.

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