Thousands of claims are pouring into home and auto insurance companies in the wake of last weekend's record snowstorm, but executives say it's too soon to tell just how costly a disaster it will be.

As of Monday, more than 5,000 claims had been reported to several major insurance companies, with more expected to be filed in the coming days as power is restored to more homes and customers assess damage to their property.

"I'm sure more will come. We understand that people are still without electricity and without a phone, so we're expecting that number will increase," said Krista Conte, spokeswoman for Allstate Corp., the No. 1 home insurer in the state.

The total so far includes nearly 2,000 just to New York Central Mutual, which has about one-third of the market share in Buffalo. Another 1,100 came in to Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., while State Farm Mutual Insurance Co. collected about 1,500 and Allstate took in 500 reports.

Already, all four insurers, as well as Liberty Mutual Group and St. Paul Travelers Cos., have sent special catastrophe teams to Buffalo with dozens of claims representatives, and designated claims from Western New York for expedited attention. Travelers and Erie Insurance even sent mobile claims headquarters - offices on wheels.

Officials will likely focus on the hardest-hit customers and neighborhoods first. "Our first priority is taking care of our customers' needs as quickly as possible," said State Farm spokesman Robert Mayrose.

"We're here to help policyholders when they need us most," Nationwide spokeswoman Elizabeth Stelzer said by e-mail.

But while the companies are now starting to set aside reserves to cover their losses, they're not ready to commit to damage estimates or projections of total claims.

They also hesitate to compare the recent storm to an ice storm in Rochester and a major snow storm in Buffalo almost five years ago that dumped several feet of snow on Western New York. New York Central took in 3,500 claims for that storm, paying out $6.9 million.

"We have obviously seen a spike in claims activity since the storm but it is too early to put numbers to the event," said Mark Dombrowski, spokesman for Erie Insurance Co.

"Today is really the first day of real loss reporting," said Ray Stone, vice president of catastrophe management at Travelers, a division of St. Paul Travelers Cos. "It's just so early that anything I'd come up with would be just so rough it wouldn't make sense at this point."

So far, most claims stem from trees or branches falling on homes, cars, sheds, fences, pools, or other property, as well as from heavy snow loads on roofs or from water damage in basements flooded by rapidly melting snow, backed up sewers and failed sump pumps.

Officials also expect losses from spoiled food and business interruption because of the widespread power outage, Stone said. And there are claims for damage to trees themselves, including many of the 75 claims handled by Brown & Brown of New York, an insurance agency, said Karen Fenzl, commercial lines manager.

Finally National Fire Adjusters in Amherst already handled more than half a dozen fires, including a South Buffalo client whose wiring apparently overheated from an electric surge caused by a power line falling on her house. The damage exceeds $100,000, said Joseph Brownscheidel, a licensed public adjuster.

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By JONATHAN D. EPSTEIN
News Business Reporter

e-mail: jepstein@buffnews.com

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