Baton Rouge, Louisiana – State Farm, the leading insurer of cars and homes in Louisiana and the nation, is at a heightened state of readiness for the effects of Hurricane Ike along the Louisiana coast.
State Farm’s Vice President-Agency for Louisiana, Rob Stewart, stated, “We are closely watching Ike and preparing for any additional personnel resources needed to handle claims from Ike, as we continue to take care of customer claims from Hurricane Gustav in southern and central Louisiana.”
State Farm’s state of the art Catastrophe Team, a mobile workforce of experienced claim representatives, is ready to respond quickly – and wirelessly – if Hurricane Ike impacts our customers.
State Farm mobilized hundreds of Catastrophe Team personnel to assist over 1200 State Farm associates—agents, staff, claims and operations personnel—that live and work in Louisiana, to respond to Gustav claims. Hundreds more are now mobilizing to State Farm’s high tech Centralized Catastrophe Services locations in Dallas, Texas.
Through Friday morning, September 12, State Farm has received 47,523 claims on homeowners/property policies, and 7,533 auto claims from Gustav in Louisiana. Spokesperson, Brooke Cluse, of Baton Rouge advises that the company has already paid over $17 million in claims to its Louisiana customers affected by Gustav.
Cluse stated, “We have numerous mobile Catastrophe Service locations through out southern Louisiana, and we will be working at these locations from 7a to 7p, seven days a week until our customer needs are handled.”
State Farm’s mobile Catastrophe Service locations include Alexandria, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Houma, Morgan City, New Iberia, and Lafayette.
Officials at State Farm are making plans to send Catastrophe React Teams and claims personnel, and establish additional locations as needed in Lake Charles and southern-southwestern Louisiana as needed following the impact of Ike.
For questions or more information, contact Jeff McCollum , Public Affairs, at (309) 766-0307.