NU Online News Service, May 18, 2:54 p.m.EDT

The unprecedented flooding along the Mississippi is producingsome rarely seen events throughout the Delta basin, but the impactof these events on the commercial side of the property and casualtyindustry will probably be minimal, say observers.

Flooding along the Mississippi has been so intense that for thefirst time in close to 40 years the Morganza Spillway was opened, potentially affecting 2,500 peopleand 2,000 structures as water spills into the AtchafalayaBasin.

Cities, towns, homes and thousands of acres of farm land havebeen flooded in the past weeks as the combination of heavy rainsand melting snow has led to serious flooding down river.

Despite the devastation, the insurance industry at this pointsays there is little evidence that this will have a catastrophicimpact on the industry.

Jersey City, N.J.-based Insurance Services Office (ISO) says ithas not declared a catastrophe from the flooding along theMississippi and its tributaries. Its catastrophe claims surveysubsidiary, Property Claim Services, has not prepared an estimateof insured property damage, ISO says.

A spokeswoman for one major commercial insurer in the region,State Farm, says that commercial-account exposure to flooding isminimal. The exposure is very small and other commercial coverage,such as business interruption, is excluded from the generalproperty form for flood.

Shaun Norris, chief sales officer for Hub International GulfSouth, says one impact of the flooding is that some insurers havebecome shy about renewing flood coverage for commercialaccounts.

In one case, a Midwest account that is not affected by floodingalong the Mississippi could not bind excess flood coverage of morethan $20 million. The carrier that was renewing the account put afive-day moratorium on flood coverage, Norris says.

“These excess flood markets are starting to hesitate [onrenewals] in the wake of this event,” says Norris.

Throughout the region, Hub's main niche interest is boataccounts. He says these businesses can easily pick up and move upriver and continue operations. However, their offices do getflooded out.

Most of the time they are back in their offices in four to fivedays, he says. However, conditions are so bad right now that thereis no telling how long it will be before the river crests and theycan get back in.

Both State Farm and Norris say that with the flood waters stilldays away from cresting, no one has had an opportunity to viewtheir property and submit a claim.

Norris says that outside of homeowners, others who would be mostlikely affected by the flooding will be Main Street businesses,strip malls, restaurants and other small businesses that his firmdoes not write.

Reports say that the most heavily affected businesses arefarmers that have been inundated by flood waters.

While no figures have been released, the United StatesDepartment of Agriculture issued a statement saying that those who have purchasedcrop insurance will be covered under the program for damaged crops,as well as those who were unable to plant because of the floods inaccordance with the terms of their policy.