The historic flooding in the United Arab Emirates in 2024 provided an unprecedented test for the Crawford team in the region. Four storms converged into one and up to 10.2 inches of rain fell between April 13 and 17, the heaviest rainfall measured since weather records began in the Emirates 79 years ago.
After the deluge brought more than a year’s worth of rain in a day to Dubai, it also resulted in a year’s worth of insurance claims for the Crawford team in the space of the following month. The flooding was both deep and prolonged. With the ground saturated from four other storms over the previous six months and a lack of natural drainage, large areas of the city remained at least one metre underwater for five days or more.
Many of the hundreds of resulting claims were high value. Site visits were challenging in the aftermath of the storm, given the travel difficulties caused by damage to roads and the metro. insurers were overwhelmed and transferred cases en masse to loss adjusters.
The surge in claims handled by the full-time adjusters working in Crawford’s Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices was considerable.
Crawford is uniquely equipped to deal with the sharp increase in claims volume that typically follows a catastrophic loss event. Our response in the UAE involved immediate action to increase “boots on the ground,” careful planning to ensure optimal and efficient processing of claims, and leveraging Crawford’s global resources. But only through the extraordinary dedication of team members who worked from dawn until dusk and every weekend for three months straight, were we able to realise the plan.
Early on, we brought in six experienced additional adjusters from Europe to assist with the new cases. And we organised our team and our systems to deal with the rapid flow of claims as efficiently as possible. Key to our approach was a strict triage system to ensure we understood the complexity, value and location of each claim. The triage process helped us to prioritise the most urgent cases, when possible.
Each loss was put on the system within 24 hours and the insurer alerted, with our reference and the name of the adjuster. Organising our work to make best use of our adjusters’ time was an urgent consideration. We assigned adjusters batches of cases in specific areas to minimise travel duplication, especially important in light of the damage to transport infrastructure.
Keeping clients well informed, while also striving to shorten claims lifecycles and accelerate the restoration process were always front of mind.
We kept in close contact with key clients to ensure we were meeting their needs and to help insurers keep track of reserves, we sent them monthly bordereaux. When we knew the reinsurers involved, we kept them informed too.
Where appropriate, we referred any losses with a business interruption element to the Crawford Forensic Accounting Services (CFAS) team, who drew on the support of CFAS colleagues in London and Singapore.
For all cases up to US$250,000, we prepared a three-page formatted Immediate Advice report and a slightly longer version for cases up to US$1 million, while consistently upholding our standard of all reports being peer-reviewed before issuance.
For major losses, we assembled an appropriate team of senior experts with the skills required for the claim, and recruited external engineering consultants to assist with the loss validation process. We agreed interim payments at an early stage to mitigate the financial impact on policyholders and enable repairs to progress promptly. We have since set up dedicated teams for major clients and group policies to ensure smooth settlement of cases.
Events like the UAE floods bring our mission of restoring lives, businesses and communities into sharp focus. In the most testing of circumstances, I’m proud of the way our team lived up to the challenge.
