Louisiana Insurance Lawyer Blog

The National Weather Service in New Orleans has released a flash flood watch and warning for various parishes throughout southeast Louisiana and counties in southern Mississippi through Sunday evening... INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREAS... IN SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA... ASSUMPTION... LOWER JEFFERSON... LOWER LAFOURCHE... LOWER PLAQUEMINES... LOWER ST. BERNARD... LOWER TERREBONNE... ORLEANS... ST. CHARLES... ST. JAMES... ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST... ST. TAMMANY... UPPER JEFFERSON... UPPER LAFOURCHE... UPPER PLAQUEMINES... UPPER ST. BERNARD AND UPPER TERREBONNE. IN SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI... HANCOCK... HARRISON... JACKSON AND PEARL RIVER.

The number of inches of Rainfall for specified durations (of 1, 3 and 6 hours) required to produce flash flooding in Louisiana Parishes and Mississippi Counties can be found at NOAA's flash flood guidance .
The National Flood Insurance Program three key steps for filing your flood insurance claim.

TO MAKE A FLOOD CLAIM:

Contact your agent or insurance company to file a claim, separate damaged from undamaged property. The insurance company's flood adjuster will need evidence of your structural and/or damaged content to assist in preparing his estimate. Take photograph of all damaged property (including any of the property you plan on throwing away). Take a photograph of the flood line and make an accurate list of all damaged content including date of purchase, cost and value before flood. If you have any receipts for the contents that were damaged, please save them. Finally, timely file your Proof of Loss form with your insurance company within 60 days of the flood.

In a recent New York Times article, Amy Bach of United Policyholders provided tips concerning words to avoid when speaking with your insurance representative about a homeowner's insurance property damage claim.

United Policyholders is a a nonprofit group focused on educating consumers about insurance.

Amy says to avoid words like "flood" and "mold" and use language like "There has been an accident at my house, on my property and my property has been damaged, and I'm filing a claim."

Many Louisiana automobile liability insurance companies will not consider paying a claim of their at fault customer until they see a copy of the accident report. To resolve this issue, you may want to get a copy of the report on your own to expedite matters. Louisiana State Police Crash Reports are now available online. To obtain a report you will be asked to enter the first and last name of the driver/pedestrian involved in the crash, the parish where the crash occurred and the date of the incident. Parish Sheriff and Local Police Department Accident Report Contact Information is also available online.