Allstate readying for Gustav's impact

Allstate Insurance Co. on Sunday ramped up its Gulf Coast operations in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav's landfall, activating more than 1,000 claims adjusters and positioning 15 mobile response units from Texas to Alabama.

The Northbrook-based insurer will use the response units to expedite claims from storm-damaged areas, Allstate spokesman Mike Siemienas said Sunday.

"We want to make sure we are in position should the worst happen," Siemienas said.

Some insurers were criticized after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The Louisiana attorney general has sued Allstate, along with other insurers, accusing the companies of fixing prices, manipulating damage estimates and low-balling claims payments after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Since 2005, Siemienas said Allstate has reduced its exposure in coastal communities.

"We have 17 million households that we insure throughout the country and we need to make ensure we are not overexposed in any one area that is catastrophe prone," Siemienas said last week.

Allstate's mobile units include recreational vehicles equipped with generators, satellite telephones and computer equipment, Siemienas said. An Allstate news release said the units will allow adjusters to take and process claims in areas with no electricity or communications.

The adjusters also will be able to write and distribute checks from the mobile units to hurricane victims, Siemienas said.

In the wake of Katrina and Rita, Allstate had 4,000 personnel and 30 mobile units working hurricane-ravaged areas. Siemienas declined to say how long it would take to bring staffing and equipment to those levels again, but did say the company can "quickly rent additional units and bring in more people" if needed.

"We have the ability to very quickly react," Siemienas said. "We are very focused on preparing for the possibility of a large scale national disaster."