Your assigned adjuster will call you within 24 hours of our receipt of your claim to schedule an appointment to view your damage.
Clean up should begin as soon as the flood waters recede. When it is safe to enter your home: Remove carpeting that has gotten wet. Take a picture, cut it up and drag it out. Wet carpeting may be a health hazard as it promotes mold growth. It needs to be removed as quickly as possible. If you have had over 6 inches of water, take pictures of the water mark in each room and then remove the drywall up to the water line to start the drying process. It is important that this process begins as soon as possible. Once the damaged drywall is removed, dehumidifiers and fans will help to speed up the drying and prevent mold.
If you have contents coverage, make a room by room detailed list of all damaged personal property and separate the damaged from the undamaged items. Have the list available for your adjuster on his initial visit. Save damaged personal property and take photos of it. It is the adjuster's responsibility to verify contents damage. If you throw away something before the adjuster gets there, you must have a photograph of the item showing the damage in order to claim it.
The adjuster will take pictures of damage to your insured building as well as your damaged personal property if you have contents coverage. He will take measurements, scope the building damage and conduct an interview with you.
When working with the adjuster it is important that you both come to an agreement about the "scope of damage", meaning an agreement about what needs to be repaired or replaced, without a dollar amount. The adjuster will discuss this with you as he goes from room to room.
In most instances you will be able to receive an advance payment to help you start the recovery process. When your adjuster visits your property, let him know if you will need an advance or partial payment on your loss.
The Standard Flood Insurance Policy will pay no more than $2500.00 per loss for the following items:
This is an extremely important point. Replacement cost coverage (which pays to replace or restore a structure or item) is only available on a limited basis and ONLY for a single-family dwelling that is a principal residence. To receive replacement cost coverage on this structure, you must be insured to at least 80% of the building's replacement cost at the time of the loss or the maximum amount of coverage available, whichever is less.
Contents losses are ALWAYS adjusted on an actual cash value basis. That means that you only receive what the item was worth as of the day of the loss. For example, if you bought a $1000.00 color television three years ago and it was damaged in a flood, you might only receive $700.00 for it, if that is what the equipment was worth on the day of the flood. Your building loss would also be adjusted this way unless you qualify (as stated above) for replacement cost coverage.
No. When rain enters through a wind-damaged window or door, or comes through a hole in a wall or roof, the National Flood Insurance Program considers the resulting water and damage to be windstorm-related, not flood-related.
The Standard Flood Insurance Policy provides coverage for one building per policy. The only exception is 10% coverage for a detached garage. However, the total payment for flood damage to the detached garage and the house together cannot exceed the building policy limit. For coverage to apply, the garage must be designed and used for parking and storage. Any other use would void this coverage.
If your questions have not been answered here, please send an e-mail to: claims@jacclaims.com and you will receive a prompt reply.
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