CLAIM TIPS* As soon as possible after an event affects your home, contact your insurance carrier or your agent. Locate a copy of your policy and read through it.* Make a thorough inventory for your adjuster of all of the items missing from or damaged in your home.* Take pictures, if possible, of all damage - inside and outside, from several angles - to get full documentation before any repairs are made.* Secure and protect your property against further rain or other damage as much as possible without making permanent repairs, so that the adjuster can see and document the full extent of the damage.* Keep receipts for expenses of protecting your property from further damage.Source: Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance
Teddy Harris said "it's unlivable" as he surveyed the damage to his home.
A 150-year-old tree "just split the house right down the middle" while Harris, who serves as a Rossville city councilman, was at work.
The stormy nightmare was interrupted when, like a good neighbor, his State Farm Insurance agent showed up at the house an hour later.
"I was really surprised to see him," Harris said. "It was really quick."
Agent Keith Michaels told Harris to check into a hotel, and State Farm would pick up the bill.
"He was there and was ready to help so it made a big difference," Harris said. "But I'm not the only one out here."
Those like Harris with homes that are destroyed move to the top of the list, but lower-priority storm victims with homes not considered "unlivable" may have to hunker down for the night in an undamaged section of the house.
With thousands of homes and businesses damaged by Wednesday's storms across the Tennessee Valley, insurance companies are sending a small army of adjusters to assess the damage and work out payments for repairs and replacements.
"The major insurers will do what they can to dispatch adjusters to meet with homeowners as soon as possible and they should get to most people in a few days," said David Colmans, executive director of the Georgia Insurance Information Service.
State Farm Insurance Co., which insures nearly one of every four homes in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, reported hundreds of claims by midday Wednesday and expected that number to multiply with additional storms through the night.
State Farm spokesman Justin Tomczak urged those with property damages from the storm to make any needed temporary repairs and to call their local agent or the company's claims line (1-800-732-5246) as soon as possible to alert the company to any possible claims.
"Putting a tarp on damaged roofs ahead of the next rain event is crucial," he said.
Much of the wind damage from Wednesday's storms came from uprooted or broken trees. Damage from fallen trees on houses, cars and other properties is usually covered by homeowner policies, but most policies do not insure any value for the tree itself, Colmans said.
Colmans said storms like those that hit the Tennessee Valley on Wednesday underscore the need for homeowners to make an inventory of their possessions and to store that in a safe place.
"It's important every one to two years to talk with your insurance agent to update your policy," he said. "It's also a good idea to make an inventory and keep that in a safe place away from the home to keep records of what you own so that when a disaster strikes you have proof of what was in your home."