Flooding. Power outages. Debris removal. Rebuilding. Manyinsurance agents faced the same issues as their clients in the wakeof Superstorm Sandy, but they all shared an additionalresponsibility: to make themselves available to the victims of thestorm, helping them to process the claims that would help them maketheir lives whole again.

The following four agents shared their recollections of thesuperstorm and its aftermath, providing case studies in resiliencyand serving as reminders of why many people got into the P&Cinsurance business to begin with—to help them recover when tragedystrikes.

Clayton N. Sterling Associates: An Island in the Middleof Devastation.

The office of Clayton N. Sterling Assoc. in Seaside Park,N.J., sits one block from the shore. Preparations to protect thebuilding began on Saturday; on Sunday, the state declared amandatory evacuation of the barrier islands. Jim Klagholz (picturedleft), the agency's president, closed the building and left—butmade a fortuitous last-minute decision to return and take hiscompany's workstation tower and computer.

The next day, the barrier island “took pretty much a directhit,” says Klagholz. It would be days before officials would allowresidents and business owners in for limited visits. They boardedbuses at a nearby mall and handed their driver's licenses over sopolice could keep tabs on who was coming and going. The mandatoryevacuation order lasted until Jan. 1.

Klagholz's office was an island in the middle of devastation ona piece of high-ground leaving his and a few surrounding buildingsseemingly unscathed. The flooding shut-off utilities and it wouldremain that way for over two months.

Above: An aerial photo of damagein Seaside Park, N.J. The orange circle at the top-right cornershows the office of Clayton N. Sterling Assoc., which remainedremarkably unscathed (original photo credit: Andrew Mills/The StarLedger).

Home was a different story; five miles inland in neighboringToms River, a few trees fell around the house, but there was nodamage. He was without electricity for 36 hours. Once it was backon, he got back to work.

With the help of a close friend—who he referred to as a supergeek—he reconnected his computer network, transforming his homeinto a makeshift office. He and his small office staff processedaround 700 claims. When customers called the agency the voice mailmessage informed them that the office was temporarily re-locatedand to leave a message. Up at 6 a.m., Klagholz received 60 to 70messages a day. He and his staff spent the day on their cell phonesreturning calls because Verizon could not hook-up the phone lineshe needed.

“I had 250 minutes on my cell phone,” said Klagholz. “I changedthat to unlimited and haven't switched back.”

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“I'm kind of a conservative guy,but with the changes in the seasons, I can't help but to questionwhether we could be going through this again next year” –JimKlagholz

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The performance of insurers has been “all over the board” hesays, with some “performing in stellar fashion.” He believesthe sheer volume of claims has overwhelmed their capacity,especially the excess and surplus lines carriers and theirindependent adjusters. He has no illusions about moving on fromSandy any time soon.

“An adjuster asked me, are you ready to put this storm behindyou? I said yes. And he said don't, because you will be dealingwith this for a year; this was worse than Katrina,” Klagholzremembers. “Most of our work today is claims.”

He learned his first lesson about backing-up computer files whenlightning struck the office about two-and-a-half years ago. Heeventually began using the cloud storage for backing up hisfiles.

Sandy taught him another lesson: that he not only needed back-updata, but to have back-up hardware and facilities offsite.

“I'm kind of a conservative guy, but with the changes in theseasons, I can't help but to question whether we could be goingthrough this again next year,” he said.

The major lesson coming out of Sandy is that contingencyplanning can help mitigate damage and ease the recovery process,says Klagholz.

“This takes an emotional toll on people,” he notes. “If they areprepared in advance, they will have a better time of dealing withit if and when it happens again.”

Garber, Atlas Fries & Associates Inc.: Lessons inContingency Planning

On the Monday that Sandy approached the coast, Chief OperatingOfficer/Vice President Justin Fries of Garber, Atlas Fries &Assoc., in Oceanside, N.Y., sent a text message to the firm's morethan 40 employees telling them to stay home and be safe. He and twoothers prepared the agency's two-story office by covering equipmentand furniture in case the wind broke through a window or lifted aroof seam allowing the rain in.

As he was unable to relocate the firm's server, he covered it upand surrounded with material in hopes of blocking off anyfloodwater. Tropical Storm Irene had flooded the office slightlythe year before; Fries assessed that Sandy could be a little worse,but felt his office was prepared.

At 8:30 that evening, he got a call from the alarm company:Sensors detected water coming into the building. From aclosed-circuit television camera, he watched in horror as the waterrose around the building for 10 minutes before the power wentout.

“I thought—'Oh God, this might be the big one,'” says Fries.

When he arrived at the office on Wednesday, he found three feetof water had invaded the office along with sewage backup, leaving arotten stench throughout the first floor. A disaster-recoveryservice was already at work securing trailers for temporary officespace, but the floodwaters had fried the servers—and Fries quicklyrealized he would have to secure office space for the longterm.

Above: The aftermath of Sandy atGarber, Atlas Fries & Assoc., in Oceanside, N.Y. (Credit:Justin Fries).

He quickly found a suitable location and set up shop inFarmingdale, L.I. To handle claims, representatives from the agencymanually took the information outside the Oceanside office, andfiled it later electronically. The makeshift command centerremained in operation until Jan. 30.

During those 90 days, he recalls, “it was nothing but servicingclients and helping people where you could. I went down to severaldifferent clients to calm them down and listen to them to help getthem through it, but there wasn't much else I could do.”

Above: A damaged computer fromthe Oceanside office (Credit: Justin Fries).

At his own home there was no major damage, but Fries was withoutpower for two long weeks. With small children in the home and thedays getting colder after Sandy passed, staying in the house becameless of an option, and soon his family was able to move into ahotel in Manhattan (from which he commuted for a week) until he wasable to hook up a portable generator to his home.

Fries' parents' home in Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn did not fareas well. They evacuated but lost one car to the rising waters, anda neighbor who had been watching their home almost lost his life inneck-high flooding.

“The entire area looked like a war zone,” says Fries. “Peoplewere walking around dazed and confused, pulling debris out of theirhomes.”

Restoring the house was a stressful period that put his fatherin the hospital with an ulcer. He is doing well now, Fries says,but adds, “It was a crazy experience that I'm not looking forwardto going through again.”

He says Sandy has proven to clients that “we are there forthem.” It has given the agency a treasure trove of stories aboutexposure and lessons learned for the future. For the agency, hesays there will be more attention paid to contingency planning,including raising the servers above the level of Sandy'sfloodwaters “so we have a fighting chance.” They also plan toset-up a second set of servers for back-up data storage and findingalternate office space before disaster strikes.

The Ronan Agency: Exercises in Empathy

Jeanne Heisler (pictured left), president of The RonanAgency, in Bricktown, N.J., was well aware of the pending storm. Avolunteer on the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security &Preparedness Financial Services Sector Work group, she took part inincreasingly frequent conference calls in the days before Sandymade landfall—all the while forwarding updates to clients alongwith colleagues in the Independent Insurance Agents & BrokersAssociation of New Jersey.

Realizing the potential severity of what was about to hit theGarden State, she put her own contingency plans in motion to secureboth her home and office.

With an emergency generator at the ready, Heisler was ready torun the agency from her home, and turned the office phones on forauto pick-up. That way, if the power went out, calls would bounceto her cell—and bounce they did: By 11 a.m. Monday, clients werealready calling, and that day's high winds and rain were just thepreamble to the disaster that would follow.

“The first call [on Monday] night, I knew we were having areally bad storm,” says Heisler. Hours later, the power went out,leaving the Jersey shore in darkness until daybreak. The heartbreakof destroyed property and shattered lives would soon becomeapparent, and the phones began to light up.

Above: Damage aroundBricktown, N.J. (Credit: Denise Clayton).

By mid-week the agency's staff of nine found themselves workingfrom her kitchen table, calling customers back on their cell phonesand accessing the agency's records through a web-based system.Heisler says while one staffer made certain to get back tocustomers within 20 minutes, others checked e-mails and accessedclient records, printing out and reviewing the information beforereconnecting with clients and submitting their claims.

With the exception of a few downed trees the agency's officesuffered no damage, but the power outage would keep it closed forabout two weeks.

Between Tuesday and Sunday the agency fielded 500 phone calls,which Heisler says worked out to about 10 to 15 calls everyhalf-hour. Despite their best efforts, she says what they failed todo was commiserate with their clients.

“We had so many calls coming in so fast, we felt bad that wecould not spend more time with them,” she admits. While this wasdue to no lack of empathy, “there was never enough time to tellthem it will get better. People were so shell-shocked. It was pureexhaustion to deal with, day-in and day-out.”

“There is nothing you can say to someone who has losttheir home. It will be years before you can say their life will bebetter,” adds Heisler's sister, Denise Clayton (pictured right), asenior vice president at the agency.

Clayton was vacationing in Florida when Sandy was closing in:She and her husband cut their trip short and returned home. Theirhouse sat just a few hundred feet from the water near Barnegat Bay:In the past, storms left small areas of flooding, but nothingmajor. Sure, the coming storm was expected to pack a wallop, butsome standard preparations would surely do the trick.

No such luck. At her home, the flood waters ran five feet high,spreading into a crawl space and ruining everything stored in thegarage.

Still, Clayton was lucky compared to her neighbors, some of whomlost the backs of their homes to the floodwaters. Others saw theircars and boats destroyed.

Above: A damaged boataround Bricktown, N.J. (Credit: Denise Clayton).

The Claytons were able to get to the house to inspect the damagetwo days after Sandy hit, but it was over a week before they couldmove back in. They were without power for 18 days and she and herhusband remained in their home without heat until Christmas.

“We have no kids to worry about, but you don't realize how darkit can get. There was no power in the entire neighborhood; it was alittle creepy.”

Today, the rebuilding process continues, but preparing for thefuture remains a daunting issue for her and her neighbors.

“We are lucky; we have a place to live in,” says Clayton. “Somedon't have a home to go back to. But looking at the financial taskahead of us, it is scary to have to raise the home or not affordthe flood insurance.”

New Jersey's new state-mandated flood maps indicate that somehomes will need substantial elevation, and while some state andfederal grant money is available, much of it will go tolower-income homeowners. Clayton notes that raising a home canrange from $30,000 to well over $120,000: For now, the best shesays she can do is compile the estimates and be ready to apply forall the grants she can.

Since Clayton shares the same anxieties as her clients when itcomes to rebuilding, that has altered the relationship between theagency and its customers.

“We've always been a very community-minded business, but the waywe handle clients has changed because a lot of people come in andneed to talk,” she says. “We spend a lot of time beingcompassionate. Their emotional state has been compromised by thestorm. We handle our clients with kid gloves because they are veryfragile now, and need understanding.”

AAA New York Insurance Services Inc.: No One WasPrepared.

Kevin R. Crossley (pictured left), vice president, AAA NewYork Insurance Services, Inc., in Garden City, Long Island, N.Y.,says he lives in Long Beach, N.Y., and, like many people living onthe barrier island, made the necessary preparations for wind andwater, such as placing his furniture up as high as possible out ofharm's way.

Unlike some of his neighbors, he decided not to ride-out thestorm. He opted to stay in a hotel close to his Garden City office,which has a more central location in Long Island's NassauCounty.

“It was a good thing we did that because once the airport wasclosed all the pilots and flight attendants filled the hotels;there was not a room to be found,” says Crossley.

Eighteen miles south of Garden City, his neighbors dealt withSandy's tidal surge coursing through their homes; many lost theirvehicles. Fortunately, as quickly as the water came in, itreceded.

Above: A damaged car afterSuperstorm Sandy swept through Long Beach, N.Y. (Credit:FEMAphotograph/Andrea Booher).

The AAA office building had a back-up generator, but thebuilding never lost power. For some, the office became a safe havenwhile they waited for heat and electricity to return to theirhomes.

Crossley spent four days in the hotel before finding otheraccommodations. It would be a week before he and other residentscould get back to their homes to assess the damage.

“My home, I was fortunate. I was elevated just enough,” saysCrossley. He was out of his home for seven weeks. The storm knockedout his boiler, hot water heater, washer and dryer; the waterstopped just before reaching the first floor.

For him, the experience was an inconvenience, primarily becausethere was little to do until the electricity came back. Hamperingprogress was the fear of an electrical fire after one home burneddown from wet electrical wires under the house.

Five months later, most people are back in their homes, he says,and with spring here “you kind of put this behind you.”

He says the insurers AAA deals with stepped in where needed andoffered a lot of support.

“We saw some very generous payments on claims,” he says. “Ithelps strengthen our policyholder's relationship. They remember theservice you provide them and in the future, when an increase comesalong, they will be willing to accept it.”

Above: Damage around Long Beach,N.Y. after Superstorm Sandy (Credit:FEMA photograph/AndreaBooher).

One of the takeaway lessons from Sandy, Crossley says, is thatindividuals who thought they were prepared found out they were not.The major lesson: when there is a mandatory evacuation, getout.

For carriers, he believes the volume of claims took them bysurprise and they will improve.

“We better be more prepared for events like this,” saysCrossley. “We are seeing too many odd events now. We are not goingto be [shut] down again without the right preparations.”