As Hurricane Sandy bore down on the East Coast at this time last year, I started to get messages from some unusual sources.

Living in Connecticut, I was potentially in the storm's path – a fact that apparently didn't go unnoticed to a number of businesses I patronize. In the days leading up to the storm's landfall, among the companies I got e-mails from were:

• My electric utility, providing a phone number and web address to report outages, as well as information about emergency shelters and how long food can keep in freezers and refrigerators without power.
• My credit card company, offering assistance should my family and me need emergency financial, medical or travel assistance.
• An airline I frequent, notifying me of schedule disruptions and a temporary waiver of ticket cancellation and rebooking fees.
• An online retailer, advising me of delays in shipping packages to some affected areas, and providing a phone number for more information.
• A local arborist I had used years ago, providing his contact information should I need to have storm-damaged trees removed from my property.

But one company I never heard from… was my insurer. And they never heard from me, because, fortunately, I didn't experience any damages from Sandy.

Checking with friends and family in the Northeast, I learned that many of them, too, hadn't heard a peep from their insurers.