Hurricane Harvey

Devastating the Texas coast beginning on August 26, 2017, Harvey stalled over the region dumping as much as 50 inches of rain in some areas. Harvey is considered one of the most catastrophic storms to ever hit the Texas coast. Some estimates are that damages could exceed $30 billion. Crawford’s Catastrophe Services team began watching the storm carefully as it grew from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane.

“We mobilized early, even before the storm made landfall, sending adjusters into the area to support early property and auto claims volume,” said US President of Claims Solutions, Ken Tolson.

Temporary operations were set up in Austin and then moved to Houston once conditions permitted. This strategy proved critical in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in 2012, reducing delay and enabling the team to avoid bottlenecks caused by publicly imposed travel restrictions.

“Our number one priority was to ensure we were positioned to respond quickly and in a highly coordinated fashion,” said Tolson. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have suffered losses, and we continue to do everything we can to help people return to their homes, communities and businesses as soon as possible.”

In addition to traditional claims adjusting, Crawford supported customers through subsidiary company, WeGoLook, and its network of over 40,000 Lookers who initiated policyholder contact and gauged the scope of loss before the adjusting phase. WeGoLook's network of drone operators was also used to help assess damage to roofs and other properties.