Insurance concerns for damaged homes and properties

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Mississippi is under a state of an emergency and as of now, there’s no federal assistance.

That’s why volunteer agencies, like Red Cross and the Salvation Army are being heavily relied on.

The wrath from Saturday’s tornado is very visible in parts of Columbus, impacting dozens of people.

Many are still trying to figure out what’s next, what to do, and where to go.

It’s been three days since the tornado came through, but you can see the impacts among these damaged homes, buildings, and roads.

Emergency Management Agencies and other organizations are urging people with property damage to document, document, and document.

Home after home, roofs blown off, doors blown in and pieces of what use to be a home now lay everywhere.

“If you have a damaged home from the tornado or the flood you need to make sure you take pictures or videos of all the damages and call your insurance company and make sure your insurance company, if you don’t have insurance, if you’re a renter and you have renter insurance, you need to do the same thing,” says Lowndes County EMA director Cindy Lawrence.

Columbus residents are battling dual disasters; tornado damage in some areas and flooding in others, but the most important thing to remember in either case is document the damage.

Taking pictures of homes, cars, and items that were impacted by the storms will help you down the road.

“Residents will be asked questions about their situation on a multiple facet and sometimes, this is more like a marathon type of deal that you’re going through. I know you want quick results, but please take those pictures and document if you have insurance. They are going to really need it,” says American Red Cross North Mississippi Executive director John Brown.

“With insurance companies, you know, they have contents and they have the structure, so you’ll want to receive funding for the structure and the contents and if you got a house ten years ago, I’m sure that the furniture you had in your house is different now, from what you have from ten years ago, so if you document it and have pictures then you can report that to your insurance company.”

If you’re in a situation where you don’t have insurance, there’s still available help out there.

“If you don’t have renters insurance, then it’s up to you to try to call some of the volunteer agencies to see if there is some funding available that they can assist you and help you replace those contents that were lost.”

“We work that case for that individual and help them with their transition plan to help. We will be working with a housing committee to help with transitional housing, that’s going to be a big deal. A feeding committee to make sure we get things out. We will be working with churches.”

Lawrence said if you have other needs, or some special needs, to call the EMA Office at 662-329-5110.

The office will be able to give numbers for other volunteer agencies that are providing other assistance and can help with those needs.