News

What will it take to feed people this holiday? 7.11 billion pounds of turkey 2.4 billion pounds of sweet potatoes 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins 750 million pounds of cranberries 248 million turkeys expected to be raised Be thankful and share what you have with others who may have less. And if you are frying one of the 248 million turkeys that are being raised, don’t burn your house down! Be  [...]

I can still smell it…It haunts me. Never again do I want to be subjected to the smell of rotting food in my freezer after returning home from evacuation. Here is tip that was passed to me: To prepare your freezer before leaving for a hurricane or severe weather, put all of your freezer items into black plastic bags. Tie the bags and place them back into the freezer. Put a Dixie cup of water in the freezer, let it freeze and then put a penny on top of it. When you return, if the penny has dropped to the bottom and been re-frozen you would know that your power had gone out.You can then  [...]

Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. (Citizens) has held a fourth depopulation offering in which 13,500 policies have been assumed into the private insurance market, state Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon announced. Citizens, which insures homes and commercial properties that private companies refuse to insure, had its book of business spike to 174,000 in September 2008 following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Since that time, Citizens has held three depopulation offerings to the insurance industry. Some private insurers have been enticed by state grants to take over the policies from  [...]

Five years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, neither the federal government nor the private sector is any closer to developing effective solutions to the problems facing flood and windstorm insurance, according to a new study from the RAND Corp. The seven hurricanes that pummeled the Gulf Coast region in 2004 and 2005 did an unprecedented amount of damage, causing nearly $90 billion of insured wind losses to property, with one-half of those losses caused by Hurricane Katrina alone. As a result, insurance premiums skyrocketed, numerous private insurers retreated from  [...]

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Erik’s son Joshua recognized for his artistic  [...]

Hurricane Safety When mandatory evacuations are issued for a hurricane, evacuate. If it is not mandatory, but the opportunity presents itself, evacuate. Before the start of hurricane season, verify with your insurance agent that homeowners and flood insurance polices are in place. Remember: Homeowners insurance does not, and will not, cover flood damage. Update photographs of your home and belongings. When a storm approaches, prepare your house for possible-destructing winds and water by boarding windows, sandbagging low-lying areas, picking up outside furniture, garbage cans and  [...]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has clarified that in the event of a declared flooding disaster, National Flood Insurance Program coverage will apply even if oil from the British Petroleum deep well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico is mixed with flood waters. The NFIP will bill BP for reimbursement for any claims it pays for covered properties affected by flood waters mixed with oil from the BP spill. In a memorandum issued to insurance industry Write Your Own flood program particpants, James A Sadler, director of Claims for the NFIP, said that oil in flood water is not a new  [...]