Canadians helping to remedy lack of claims adjusters following hurricanes Harvey and Irma

One of the many challenges of a hurricane recovery process is dealing with the mass influx of insurance claims that get made. As a limited number of claims adjusters in Florida, the Bahamas, Texas, the Virgin Islands, and all other affected locations deal with the rigorous task of sorting out the devastation wrought from hurricanes Harvey and Irma, Canadians have been lending a hand.

Some firms, like Canada's Crawford and Company, have sent teams down south to alleviate the workload.

"We're there after the event occurs, generally. We do have some clients in the US who have us move some staff ahead of time to be ready to go," said Jim Eso, senior vice-president of property and casualty at C&C. "But generally there's so much unpredictability—even with a hurricane like [Irma], where at the last minute it's moving from one side of Florida to the other. We have to be cautious, as well, about not putting our own staff into harm's way."

It is independent adjusters, however, who end up doing a bulk of the work down there. Eso is one of the industry professionals who has reached out among members of the Canadian Independent Adjusters' Association (CIAA) in search of firms who may not have client agreements in the US or Caribbean, but don't mind traveling to attend to some of the claims.

"We are offering opportunities to those firms to become part of our response," he said.

The work they do is not glamorous. Often, they will have to commute in from a safer semi-remote location to get to the ravaged areas where they can do their job. Thankfully for everyone, there enough of that are willing to do it—even if they have to come down from the north.