Officials Tally Up Insurance Price Tag for Winter Storms
The back-to-back 2010 winter storms that strafed the mid-Atlantic corridor in February were not just a safety hazard and a lifestyle disruption for residents; they were also expensive, according to in-depth studies of post-storm conditions. Analysts looking at the total picture estimate the storms caused over 2 billion dollars in damages to insured infrastructure.
According to a report in BusinessInsurance.com, East Coast officials brought in a California-based company named EQECAT that is billed as a “catastrophe modeler.” What EQECAT found was a lot of property damage. The firm cited roof damage, broken pipes, and water leaks as among the biggest factors in the destruction caused by over 30 inches of snow dumped on the Washington D.C. area. The major effects of the storms were distributed across Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and surrounding areas.
The report quotes officials from the Insurance Information Institute in New York as stating that winter storms are the third biggest catastrophic damages catalyst in the region, with over 7 billion dollars of damages over the last decade from 1999 to 2008.
Those holding these kinds of catastrophic damages insurance policies, including businesses of all sizes, can expect underwriters to be busy digging through the details of their paperwork in order to assess payouts for covered damages. Experts recommend that policyholders take a look as well. Policyholders should make sure that they have a thorough understanding of what their insurer is responsible for according to their policy. Unforeseen events, like these high-powered winter storms, are always likely to generate some cases where parties seek representation to use business and property insurance law to resolve conflicts over who pays the tab after the storm has passed. Good communication between policyholders and insurance companies can make this kind of resolution speedy and efficient enough that businesses and residents in the area can get back to business as usual.
Michael Monheit is the managing lawyer at Monheit Law, outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has practiced law since 1989. Michael Monheit was the managing attorney of the law offices of Herbert Monheit — now Silverman and Fodera — a firm... Michael Monheit→