Insurers are bracing for tens of thousands of dollars in motor claims after Sunday’s record-breaking floods, the worst in a decade, left one man dead and caused widespread vehicular destruction, with scores of cars washed away or written off across the island.
“That information is still being collated. We have received some queries from clients, but I only got the information late this afternoon,” the president of the General Insurance Association of Barbados (GIAB), Andrea Walton, told Barbados TODAY on Tuesday, adding that she was unable to say how many cars were affected.
“It is very sad about the gentleman that died. That was unfortunate,” she added.
Terry Kellman, 58, was swept away when he lost his footing along Lower Estate Road as floodwaters turned the nearby Charles Rowe Bridge into a rushing river, witnesses said. His body was found on Monday morning, a short distance away.
While stating that his company was also in the process of tallying incoming claims, one major insurer estimated that the industry is likely to pay out tens of thousands of dollars in motor claims.
The general manager of Cooperators General Insurance, Anton Lovell, said “quite a few” claims are coming in.
“We have got quite a few that were submerged in flood waters,” Lovell told Barbados TODAY. “They would have to be a total write-off. We even have a Mercedes-Benz… the industry is likely to have to pay out claims in the tens of thousands of dollars. Those vehicles which are comprehensively insured will be covered, but third-party vehicle owners will have to reach into their pockets.
“If you have comprehensive from our end, you have coverage, and we have quite a few that got washed away and submerged in water. We are still tallying. I can’t give you an exact number of vehicles.
As to claims from homeowners whose houses were flooded, Lovell said: “I haven’t heard of any houses being flooded, but I know we have quite a few cars. I don’t think the claims will rise significantly. If we have six or ten cars, that is not a major thing for one insurance company. Let me put it this way, at least it kept a number of vehicles off the roads because of the rain…because we are getting at least seven to eight accidents per day.”
Lovell also suggested that the owners of those cars which went under in the flood can expect their vehicles to be written off, regardless of their insurance policy.
“To tell the truth, the vehicles got submerged in water, there is no coming back. I mean, that is a total. Any repairs will have to be treated as a loss. We are still compiling. We got a Mercedes that got waterlogged as well, but I can’t tell you the payout yet. I would say for the industry, tens of thousands of dollars are likely to be paid out. But for our count, we are still putting our figures together.
“The ones who are not comprehensive, that is a dead loss; third-party doesn’t cover flood. Unfortunately, they would have to reach into their pockets.”
“We do have a few cars [claims], general manager of Consumers Guarantee Insurance (CGI), Peter Harris, told Barbados TODAY. “I will be able to give you an idea by Friday. They are coming in for sure.” Harris is chairman of Barbados TODAY Inc.
But Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams showered high praise on the first responders who led rescue and recovery operations through the night.
On a tour of flood-hit areas in St Peter and St Lucy on Monday alongside emergency officials, he said the scale and speed of the flooding were unlike anything Barbados had previously experienced.
“A lot of the damage occurred in the Charles Rowe Bridge area. I think three or four vehicles washed off the bridge and down the same path that Terry lost his life in that area as well. There were a lot of vehicles submerged,” he said. “There were vehicles that were washed all the way down from St George Parish Church and ended up in the junction by Chefette in Charles Rowe Bridge. We’ve never seen the likes of this before.”
He noted that the Barbados Meteorological Services had confirmed that no engineering solution could have prevented the flooding, given the volume of rainfall in such a short period. As much as nine inches (228.6mm) fell in the space of 24 hours in some areas.
The Met Office said that “quite frankly, with that amount of rainfall in such a short space of time, the best engineering in the world would not have stopped flooding. The water fell, it fell in the higher parishes, it all rushed downhill, and really all we can do is mitigate it afterwards”, Abrahams explained.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
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