Insurance companies were kept busy Monday taking calls from Greensburg-area customers who sustained property damage when a low-level tornado touched down last week.
The F1 tornado tore through Greensburg about 11:40 a.m. Friday, damaging hundreds of homes, businesses and vehicles. Thousands were left without power, some for two days.
Joe Case, spokesman for Nationwide Insurance, said the agency yesterday received 200 calls from customers with property damage. Most callers, he said, reported damage to their homes.
Case said Nationwide sent agents out to assess damage Friday evening and had employees work through the weekend. Nationwide customers may call 800-421-3535 to report a claim, he said.
Another insurer, Allstate, opened a special number for customers, 800-STORM-LINE, to handle the influx of calls. The number is for customers of a six-state area, including Pennsylvania, that sustained wind or water damage between Friday and Sunday, said company spokeswoman Robin Gorneau.
Allstate customers may call their local agents or submit claims on the Internet, Gorneau said.
Bob Spadafore, a Greensburg-area Allstate agent, said yesterday that his office took a number of calls.
"We've had our share," Spadafore said. "Some as minor as a couple of shingles or piece of siding missing to a roof that's missing."
Some local insurance agencies contacted by the Tribune-Review said they were too busy with customer calls to comment.
"We're so busy, no one's available," said Joyce McLaughlin, of Charles M. Mills Insurance Agency.
Mark Parker, of Great Lakes Insurance Associates in Greensburg, said he realized insurers would be inundated with calls because he saw the storm hit.
"It sounded like a train was going by," Parker said. "When I looked out the window, I couldn't see anything because the rain was horizontal and there was a lot of hail mixed with it."
Parker's office is two blocks from the Troutman's building, which had at least one of its windows blown out by the storm.
Most insurance agencies reported no problems handling call volumes.
Doug Griffith, spokesman with State Farm, said the agency began receiving calls shortly after the storm hit Friday and so far has kept up with claims.
"On Friday, they were processing the claims as they came in, and there was nothing they couldn't handle," Griffith said.
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Cleaning upHempfield Township's Public Works Department will take wood chippers into neighborhoods this week to help residents remove loose tree limbs and other small wood debris resulting from a tornado that touched down Friday.
Residents are to place all loose wood debris at the curbs near their property. The township will not enter private property to help cut downed trees or remove fencing.
The township has established the following schedule:
• Today: Taggart Plan and Wren, Partridge, Quail, Seminole, Wheatfield and Farmbrook drives.
• Wednesday, Fosterville and Sioux Drive, Westwinds area, and Iowa, John and Wisconson streets.
• Thursday: Carbon area, and Union Cemetery, Bothwell and Sagamore roads.
• Friday: West Point and Skidmore.
