News Archive

Cumbria and Scotland Floods Update


24/11/2009

On Friday 20th November, Merlin invoked their Home Claims Surge Plan and CAT team adjusters were deployed and were working over the weekend in Cumbria and Scotland.

Chris Cowley is leading the Household response with Bob Mockridge heading up the Commercial response. Both Chris and Bob have considerable experience of CAT situations and in addition are extremely familiar with the geography of Cumbria and Scotland. Claims numbers have increased as people gain access and return to their properties.

One of the biggest problems encountered has been access to the claim sites. All claims received in accessible areas, such as Keswick and Penrith, were dealt with immediately. Initially, we were unable to access claims received for the Cockermouth and Workington areas but we have now been able to gain access to both areas and adjusters are on the ground.

We are pleased to advise that all claims received in Scotland have been visited and actioned.

There have been severe travel and access constraints caused by collapsed and unsafe bridges over the River Derwent with the main access difficulties in and around Workington. Chris Cowley, through his extensive knowledge of the Cumbria area, has been able to ensure that claims are allocated as appropriate to location and that our Loss Adjusters, Surveyors and Contactors reach the loss location as easily as possible and without unnecessary travel. Unfortunately, there have been instances where Adjusters have had to take detours of 80 miles or more to reach properties that would otherwise have been a 5 minute drive away had the bridges been open. Such is the problems with access, diversions of some 90 miles and over have been reported in the media. A safety review of all 1,800 bridges in Cumbria is being carried out as the flooding has already caused six bridges to collapse and, regrettably, the loss of one life.

Merlin Surveying Services and Merlin Contractor Services are both fully mobilised. Via our managed contractor panel, we have enough drying capacity in place to deal with this all-important element of the claims process and which has been one of the most difficult areas of claims management during previous floods.

We will be regularly updating our internet site and the following link http://www.merlinclaims.com/about-us/flood-update will take you directly to our flood update pages.

The full scale of the damage and final claim numbers is yet unknown, however, the ABI has estimated the insurance industry faces a bill of up to £100 million, which they have based on an estimated final total of around 1300 claims. Although this estimate falls well short of the £3 billion bill of 2007 it is still significant. More very heavy rainfall is presently falling across Cumbria and Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK and there remains the possibility of previously affected areas re-flooding, additional flooding and further travel and access difficulties. There are still currently 19 flood warnings in force across the country (south western, northern England, Scotland and Wales and the western counties of Northern Ireland) and four severe flood warnings still in place for Cumbria.

We know from experience that coordination and management of resources in the first few days are critical to achieving the levels of service you, our Clients, and your Policyholders need. We are pleased to have made a good start in difficult conditions and Merlin’s management is confident that we can continue to deliver a high level of service throughout the current flood situation.
 

 

 

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