As much of New Hampshire mops up and pumps out basements, home and business owners are evaluating the damage.
And one of the big questions is "what will our insurance cover?"
Marc Minker is with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
He tells NHPR's Mark Bevis that, whatever your coverage, it's important to call your insurance company quickly.
Minker: "First and foremost, if you experience any kind of problem as a result of a natural disaster, a flood in this particular case, you've got to call your insurance company as soon as possible. Some insurance policies and companies do provide limits on when you can file a claim, so the sooner you get the claim into the queue, the better.
"In addition, the severity of the damage is gonna help the insurance company prioritize the processing of your claim, so if your home, for example, was completely destroyed or significantly damaged above and beyond a roof that leaks, you've got to get some serious things done. Getting it into the system sooner rather than later will help you get the insurance company out there, get the adjusters to look at things and start getting people to help you fix the home, or if you have other property damage, such as an automobile or something like that."
Bevis: "And how quickly do insurance companies usually respond?"
Minker: "Again, it depends on the volume of claims and the severity of claims and how hard it was hit. Generally speaking, you can get an insurance adjuster to get out to the house or the property somewhere within three to maybe as long as ten business days, depending on the number of claims in a particular geographic area and the number of people that they've got on the ground. They can get around to check everything out.
"The issue there, too, and you bring up a good point - if you've got a long wait before an insurance adjuster can come out and view the property, it's extremely important to try and substantiate your loss even before they've come, and so what we've had clients do when we've had these types of situations is make sure they document the damage, by photographing it, or making lists of things, trying to get as much documentation as possible as quickly as possible, so that you can document what's actually occurred. The better organized you are, the fewer problems you're ultimately gonna have."
Bevis: "Should you go ahead and clean up?"
Minker: "I generally wouldn't, unless it's some very, very basic stuff, for example, if you had a leak in the roof and you had a pool of water on the floor. Certainly that kind of stuff you can clean up. I wouldn't go and repair anything unless it was something that would cause the property to be in a state of peril, or might cause further damage. But then again, that's where it's important to document it before you go and do anything. To the extent you can, make those temporary repairs, but try to keep them to a minimum, but not to compromise your own safety."
Bevis: "But what about things like dirty, soggy rugs, and furniture, and boxes, and all that kind of stuff. Take care of it or no?"
Minker: "I would certainly take care of it. And again, if it's going to be a matter of a day, you may want to wait, but if it's going to be a long period of time - especially now that it's going to start to get warm again - you probably want to avoid keeping things around that might otherwise cause mold, mildew and things like that from a damage perspective, cause that'll just exacerbate the situation and make it even worse."
Bevis: "What kind of recourse do insurance policy holders have if the claim isn't sufficient, if you look at it and say 'My Ming dynasty vase is worth more than you gave me'?"
Minker: "Right. There are provisions in the tax code in particular, which is probably the first place that one would look after you've gone through the insurance claim process. People can file for a casualty deductions on their tax returns. Generally speaking, for the loss to be deductible, the loss has to be greater than a hundred dollars and ten percent of their adjusted gross income. So, for example, somebody that had fifty thousand dollars of income would have to have a loss that was greater than $5100, which is ten percent of the fifty thousand plus the hundred dollars, and that would therefore give them a deductible item which they could take on their tax return for the year that the loss occurred."
Marc Minker is with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
He was speaking with NHPR's Mark Bevis.
