Insurance adjusters in many cases are nearing the half-way point of the 60-day period when they must make initial contact with policy holders who have filed claims in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.
People who decide to file claims are encouraged to do so as soon as possible.
‘The law requires adjusters, in normal times, to make first contact on a claim within 30 days. In a catastrophe, I have the power to extend it to 60 days,’ Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon said Tuesday.
‘If I had not granted them that, they couldn’t have done it,’ he said of the workload. ‘Thirty days is impossible in the aftermath of a Katrina or an Ida.’
While Hurricane Laura in Southwest Louisiana last year and Hurricane Ida in Southeast Louisiana this year had similarly destructive winds, Donelon points out that Ida on Aug. 29 affected a larger population.