Northwest Losses Still Being Tallied

Losses from last week's killer storm that wreaked havoc on Oregon and Washington have still not been assembled, but they are expected to meet the estimates of heavy damage.

Brad Weekly, regional director for the N.W. Insurance Council, said the major problem from the storm was a huge number of downed trees throughout the region.

He said the storm, with wind gusts that exceeded 100 mph, came after 10 straight days of heavy rain that had loosened the trees root systems, making them more susceptible to toppling over.

He noted Oregon was hit as hard as Washington by the storm, but because there is greater population density in cities like Seattle, the number of people affected is much worse there.

“This is as bad as anyone can remember,” he said, adding that estimated losses of $500 million are probably not too far off the mark.

Because the region is not used to catastrophe situations, the association has been inundated with questions from the media and consumers about their coverage, he said. Many, unhappily, are discovering the limits of their insurance coverage for water damage, loss of food and housing relocation.

One complaint the association is not hearing is about slow claims adjusting. In part, he noted, this could be because some policyholders have not made it back into their homes to call in claims. But carriers also assembled a sizeable number of adjusters to come into the catastrophe regions and begin work after the storms had passed.

Kenton Brine, Northwest regional manager for Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, said the association is still trying to pull together claims numbers from members, and hopes to have something by the end of this week.

“It's everyone's hope to have some kind of estimate [soon],” he said.

Yesterday, catastrophe storm modeler AIR Worldwide Corporation came out with an estimate that insured losses from the storm would amount to $500 million.

The storm has left thousands still without electricity, though the original numbers of close to one million between Washington and Oregon is down considerably.