As estimates from Hurricane Matthew continue to come in, thenumbers are climbing into the billions. Boston-based insurer, KarenClark & Company (KC&C), estimates that insurers will payapproximately $7 billion for damages from wind, storm surge andinland flooding. Other estimates put the damage somewhere between$8 and $10 billion.

Among the most severely impacted coastal areas were DaytonaBeach, Fla.; Tybee Island, Ga.; Savannah, Ga.; Charleston, S.C.;and Hilton Head, S.C. Several towns in North Carolina exceededtheir 500-year flood levels with significant precipitation.According to the NOAA, Fayetteville received 12.05 inches, Raleighhad 8.17 inches and Goldsboro experienced more than 15 inches ofrain.

What does all of this mean for insurers? Companies were movingresources and assigning claims areas well before Matthew hit. Afterthe storm, insurers knew where they needed to deploy their teams,and some faced a variety of challenges. “Smaller insurers have beenscrambling to get adjuster representation,” explained Peter Crosa,of St. Petersburg, Florida-based Peter J. Crosa & Co., and thepresident of the National Association of Independent InsuranceAdjusters (NAIIA). “The Carolinas appear to be the most severelyimpacted and Hilton Head has been devastated.” Many of the claimsinvolved second homes that were mostly unoccupied.

Crosa says that NAIIA members from across the country have sentadjusters to the affected areas to help member firms manage theirclaims load.

Mike Hearn, director of customer success at Spex, a propertyinspection platform company based in Denver, Colo., was travelingthrough North Carolina after the storm. Some of the homesexperienced anywhere from a few inches to several feet of water.“As with most hurricanes, damages are generally associated withheavy winds, large amounts of rainfall and storm surge. There isplenty of wind damage from Hurricane Matthew in the form of downedtrees and shingle losses to roofs,” shared Hearn.

“In some cases, houses were completely inundated with water,”said Hearn. “Making matters worse is the fact that many of thesehomes had no flood insurance since they were not declared to be inflood zones.”

The 48 counties affected by the hurricane in North Carolina, arealso home to many of the key agricultural producers for the state.Harvest season was just beginning for crops like soybeans, sweetpotatoes and peanuts. According to the North Carolina Department ofAgriculture & Consumer Services, 1.9 million chickens were lostduring Hurricane Matthew and that number could grow even higherafter the flooding recedes. Hog farmers seem to have fared better,since many farmers were able to relocate their animals to higherground. The impact of the storm will be felt in grocery stores inthe months to come.

A week after Hurricane Matthew struck Florida, almost 40,000claims had been filed according to the Florida Office of InsuranceRegulation. In North Carolina, State Farm insures the largestnumber of homeowners, and had moved its catastrophe response teaminto the affected areas, concentrating on the most severelyimpacted first. Nationwide and other insurers are also workingthroughout the state.

Many insurers are relying on various types of technology toinvestigate and manage these losses. “Technology is becoming moreprevalent with this event,” said Hearn. “We have heard of dronesbeing used on some claims, as well as cloud-based mobile-firstsoftware to expedite claims handling. The best-suited software forrecovery efforts like this don't require connectivity, sinceinternet access remains an issue in many cases.”

Like hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, Matthew will offer insurersthe opportunity to further refine their catastrophe response,educate policyholders on how to prepare for and mitigate the risksassociated with storms and other weather events, and demonstratehow insurance is far more than just the policy that waspurchased.