To experience how the insurance industry is responding to the tornado that took out a large swath of Joplin, Mo. on May 22—the EF5's path through the city was nearly a mile wide and about seven miles long—I "embedded" on June 7 with State Farm Insurance so I could witness the company's concerted response to the devastating storm that left more than 150 dead and 1,000 injured.
During my visit, I met with a local State Farm agent, Karen Rutledge, to hear how her agency has been dealing with this enormous catastrophe—and the profound impact it has had on her clients.
Her first thoughts when the tornado struck? "Is everybody I know safe—whether it was my employees or my family. Of course, you think of all your customers, and you're trying to find out where exactly did it hit. Right away you figure out you have lots of customers who have had a serious situation happen."
And the first 24 hours at her agency in the immediate wake of the disaster—what were they like?
"The people walking in, the phone calls—it was just overwhelming. And the stories [were] so emotionally devastating that it was just very challenging for all of us to try to give them the comfort they needed, besides the help they needed, in the timely manner that we're accustomed to taking care of our customers," Rutledge says.
"So many people have been through such a trauma—physically and emotionally—and to lose everything you have, it's just a challenge, just a challenge."
Rutledge, who has been a State Farm agent for 25 years—"State Farm is all we know"—was effusive in her praise of the company's response and the resources it was able to bring to bear to aid its policyholders.
"I'm overwhelmed at the number of claims people who are on the ground here and how quickly we are getting disbursements to people for their houses being totaled. Within 10 days, people are having checks in their hand, which certainly gives them a comfort: 'Now I have something positive I can move forward with.' Instead of, 'we're still waiting, we don't know what we're doing, we can't make any plans because we don't know what we have to work with'—so that certainly eases that stress."
"I'm just so blessed that I work for this company. I've just heard great things from our customers," she says.
And what about State Farm's role in rebuilding Joplin and helping the community heal?
"First, we want people to feel comfortable about staying in Joplin. We want to encourage that and we know that's a decision that they have to make. We hope we can provide them whatever financial assistance they need to make the right decision. And we hope that they will stay in Joplin and hope that lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place. A lot people, this is their home and this is where they want to be—so we just hope we're providing the service and finances they need to rebuild where they were on their lot or at least stay in the community and purchase something else."
Before I left, I asked Rutledge if there was any way to find something positive amidst such trauma. "This is an experience that you hope you never have, but you certainly learn a lot from—and it certainly helps build your relationship with your customers."
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