From: clarinews@clarinet.com (VIRGINIA MAIDA RANDALL, UPI Business Writer)
Newsgroups: biz.clarinet.sample,clari.news.disaster,clari.local.florida,clari.biz.finance.services,clari.biz.top
Subject: Allstate sifts through Andrew's aftermath
Keywords: severe weather, trouble, insurance commodities,
	financial services
Date: 26 Aug 92 23:59:12 GMT
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Location: florida
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	NEW YORK (UPI) -- The damage unleashed by Hurricane Andrew in Southern
Florida is ``significantly worse'' than the destruction caused by
Hurricane Hugo in 1989, a representative of a major insurer in Florida
said Wednesday.
	In an interview via cellular telephone from a mobile home set-up in
Dade County, Fla., Leslie Chapman, an Allstate Insurance Co. spokeswoman
and member of the company's catastrophe team, said ``the consensus among
the Allstate group is that this is a lot worse than Hurricane Hugo,
significantly worse because of the density of the population.''
	The earliest estimates from insurers of damage claims arising from
Hurricane Andrew were expected by Friday or Monday. Hurricane Hugo was
responsible for $4 billion in claims.
	The Dade County Office of Emergency Management estimated damages from
Andrew at between $15 billion and $20 billion.
	But Sam Miller, spokesman for the Florida Insurance News Service,
said ``those estimates cover all foreseeable losses, including roads and
public buildings. We believe the total insured losses will be less.''
	Allstate, headquartered in Chicago and a subsidiary of Sears, Roebuck
and Co., is the second-largest insurer in the Florida market.
	The company has 100,000 property policies that include homes, condos,
mobile homes and renters insurance, plus some 115,00 car policies in the
hurricane-battered area of Southern Dade County.
	``We've been doing financial triage,'' said Chapman. ``Some of our
own employees have lost everything.''
	``When I went out on Monday, I saw boats on roofs and cars upside
down on roofs...in the areas where there were still roofs,'' she said.
	Chapman said the town of Perrine was flattened and the smell of
decaying food from refrigertors left for days without electricity was
drawing snakes, insects and alligators.
	``We've had to tell our team members to watch out for alligators when
they go into a home to process a claim,'' Chapman said.
	She said she had no figures yet on how much money the company had
given out, but it issued 300 checks to policy holders Tuesday and
another 500 Wednesday.
	The checks are to cover living expenses, allowing policy holders to
find a hotel and buy food.
	Chapman said Allstate's 800 telephone number to report damage now was
restricted to those who had no homes left at all or homes that were no
longer liveable because there was no roof.
	In Florida, Allstate's catastrophe team is made up of 1,000 workers,
including an advance team for logistics, people to take information over
the phone and adjusters. Some 400 were flown in to handle the emergency.
	Each adjuster is given a stack of checks, a rental car with a sign on
the side and an area to canvass assigned by zipcode.
	Since many areas have no electricity, the company has had to outfit
its catastrophe team to cope with the emergency conditions.
	``There's no way to pump gas,'' Chapman said. ``We even give them
tire repair kits because the roads are full of shingles from roofs.''
	Many of the people on the team had worked on Hurricane Hugo and the
California earthquake. ``We all watch the Weather Channel,'' Chapman
said.
	She said the team workers will operate on shifts of 12 hours a day,
seven days a week for 30 days. ``It's like a war here. There's a curfew.
''
	``If it were as simple as paying, it would be one thing. But we have
to worry about supplies,'' Chapman said.
	She said the team must bring in its own generators for power,
ladders, wood, and extra contractors to help homeowners make repairs.
	Allstate has had to help the claimants cash their checks since ATM
machines are down.
	``There's sporadic electricity here and there, so we find out where
they can get cash. We have to carry them all the way through the
process. That's why they bought the insurance,'' Chapman said.
	``We're just beginning to see what we're dealing with. The people who
live here are very brave.''
	She said claimants are given an advance and their claim is reported
and assigned. Allstate has 45 agent locations in Southern Dade county.
Some agents have set up shop in buildings without electricity or
telephones. ``We're not measuring walls yet,'' she said.
	Agents are helped by Helping Hands employee volunteers of Allstate.
One woman in the sales department found lodging and bought food for a
family with six children who had driven to Broward County from Dade when
their home was leveled.
	Chapman said communications were hampered because the cellular
communcations towers were down.
	Allstate set up three mobile homes in the hardest hit areas, so
claimants can walk in with their claims because their homes and
telephones are gone.
	Chapman said Allstate's priority was to help policy holders left
homeless and to handle other claims later.
	``One problem is people are afraid that if they wait to tell us the
damage they won't be paid. We understand the gravity of the situation.
We're going to be here a long time.''
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