Storms Ciara and Dennis

UPDATE — 18 February 2020

Our thoughts are with families and businesses who live and work in the communities impacted by Storms Ciara and Dennis. These are challenging times for communities and we aim to provide you and your customers with as much assistance and support as possible.

The conditions are amongst the worst our adjusters have encountered particularly in South Wales where landslides have caused homes to be flooded with mud, water and rubble. The water levels have also been higher than encountered in recent flood events and properties are surrounded by mud making clean-up very difficult for homeowners.

Accessing flooded homes is the key priority for Crawford adjusters and WeGoLook Lookers. Access is difficult or restricted by Emergency Services in many areas. Our Lookers who live and work in the communities affected have been deployed to provide immediate assistance to people. They will take statements and capture imagery/videos that can be referred to our Technical Team for immediate deployment of restoration suppliers, alternative accommodation and interim payments where appropriate.

The use of WeGoLook allows us to create additional specialist adjusting capacity so we can ensure that our adjusters will be able to visit the vast majority of clients within three days. WeGoLook visits will be followed up by joint visits by adjusters and surveyors to ensure as smooth a process as possible.

Our major and complex loss adjusters are handling a number of high-value claims and are moving resources to affected areas to ensure a prompt response to mitigate the extent of business interruption and other perils.

This is a fast-moving situation and we expect to receive an increased volume of claims throughout the week. Our surge plan is holding up well and we continue to prioritise vulnerable customers, batch claims by postcode and move adjusters to the affected areas to respond as quickly as possible.

We will issue regular updates but please visit us at Twitter (https://twitter.com/crawco) for the latest up-to-date information. As the impact of the severe weather plays out over the next few days, please do not hesitate to call your Client Account Director or contact me. We are fully resourced and ready to help you at 0141 229 7500.

Kind regards

Lisa Bartlett
President, UK & Ireland

============

UPDATE — 13 February 2020

Crawford continues to receive considerable flood and storm claims from Storm Ciara but is coping well with the additional volume. We are reviewing demand on a daily basis with all our clients.

Our adjusting teams are heading out on the road at around 07.00 every day and, depending on distances, each adjuster is visiting between six or seven properties a day. We are “batching up” postcodes to maximise visit numbers and we are also prioritising vulnerable customers.

With Storm Dennis starting to make an impact and widespread damage across the UK, we continue to monitor the situation and our adjusting resources closely. Dennis, the fourth named storm of the 2019-20 season, is set to bring a second consecutive weekend of wet and windy weather after Storm Ciara struck the UK with winds of up to 97mph.

Gusts of 50mph are expected, with more than 60mph winds possible over hills, coastal areas and exposed locations according to the Met Office. Predicted heavy rain could also lead to further flooding, with 43 warnings in place in England, six in Scotland and one in Wales following recent heavy rainfall.

If required, we can bring in further adjusters from other parts of the business and will explore this if severe damage is caused by Storm Dennis.

An additional resource is available at our Manchester and Glasgow Claims Centres if required to take any rise in calls from concerned homeowners and businesses.

We are working closely with disaster restoration and alternative accommodation providers to meet the demand for these services in the affected areas. Our managed repair service, Contractor Connection, is also assisting with repairs and restoration.

For more information about the Crawford response contact, Paul Bowyer or Gary Lobb with Crawford Claims Solutions as well as our 24/7 Claims Intake Team at claimsalert@crawco.co.uk.

Paul Bowyer
Crawford Claims Solutions
T: +44 (0) 7824 690049
E: paul.bowyer@crawco.co.uk

Gary Lobb
Crawford Claims Solutions
T: +44 (0) 7471 996691
E: gary.lobb@crawco.co.uk

Claims Intake Team
T: 0141 229 7500
E: claimsalert@crawco.co.uk
============

ORIGINAL POST — 10 February 2020

Crawford has mobilised its surge response teams and has adjusters responding to claims. Many hundreds of homes, farms and small businesses have been affected. It is too early to give an indication of claim volume but our out-of-hours service has had a busy weekend and our adjusters have been out helping people this weekend.

Our agricultural team worked all weekend and were responding to rural claims in Yorkshire, Cumbria and throughout the UK. They started work again early this morning to assist farmers and rural businesses.

We have received hundreds of claims and are expecting more claims to arrive today as the flooding and storm damage is widespread. The worst affected regions are West Yorkshire, North Wales, Todmorden (Lancashire), Preston and Cumbria. Claims are being received for BA, CA, CF, CM, CV, DL, DN, DT, EX, HD, HG, HR, HU, HX, IP, LL, LN, ME, NE, NG, NN, NP, NR, and PE postcodes.

Access is our main priority at the moment as emergency services are restricting access, many claims are in isolated areas and snow is forecast for some areas.

When a flood occurs a challenge is always finding the right alternative accommodation for everyone. We have prioritised the most vulnerable people, but regions like Cumbria have relatively few options so the choices are hotels, holiday lets, short-term tenancies and staying with family and friends. Caravans are a risk because of space and the potential for further flooding down the line.

Sadly, quite a few people affected have been flooded before. So they knew what to expect and were able to move a lot of contents upstairs to prepare for the flooding when the warnings went out. A lot of their properties have also had flood resilient type repairs carried out before. This means the plaster is going to be quick to dry and won't need to be stripped out. Our adjusters are aware that people may want to utilise flood resilient repairs, rather than standard repairs so we work with insurers to assist with that.

We will monitor the situation throughout today and will move adjusters to where demand is required. We are also deploying our WeGoLook Lookers to provide assistance and will obtain drone footage once we have approval from emergency services.

For more information about the Crawford response contact, Paul Bowyer or Gary Lobb with Crawford Claims Solutions as well as our 24/7 Claims Intake Team at claimsalert@crawco.co.uk.

Paul Bowyer
Crawford Claims Solutions
T: +44 (0) 7824 690049
E: paul.bowyer@crawco.co.uk

Gary Lobb
Crawford Claims Solutions
T: +44 (0) 7471 996691
E: gary.lobb@crawco.co.uk

Claims Intake Team
T: 0141 229 7500
E: claimsalert@crawco.co.uk