BARNSDALL, Okla. (KTUL) — Since Barnsdall was struck by an EF-4 tornado almost three months ago, hundreds of homeowners have filed for insurance.
Some have their money to repair their homes and others have not.
When an EF-4 tornado touches down in your city, you can expect some delays in the insurance process.
However, one Barnsdall resident who submitted all the paperwork he needed to send is still waiting for insurance to pay for his car and his home.
NewsChannel 8 spoke with the Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner, and he agreed that waiting this amount of time is concerning.
Billy Moles stayed at a friend’s house where there was a shelter storm area while the EF-4 tornado struck the city of Barnsdall back on May 6.
When he arrived back to his home this was the only thing left of it.
He said he was in shock at what happened to his home and his car for about three or four days as he was going through the rubble.
Now he is even in more shock at how long his insurance companies have been taking to take care of his totaled-out vehicles and his home that was flattened.
Before the second tornado struck the town, the first one did some damage to his roof and they responded very quickly.
“They sent the adjuster and he told me what they were going to do and they paid. I had it fixed six days before the second tornado,” said Barnsdall resident, Billy Moles.
And when that tornado happened, he lost everything and now he is awaiting money for his contents.
He said he lost so much that he had to take a trip to Walmart to remember what all he had in his home.
He lived there for 30 years.
“M-dial is my home insurance. They paid my house insurance reasonably pretty quick but my contents insurance, you think you’re paying for contents insurance, but then they send you a check and want receipts for everything you have in your house,” said Moles. “Who keeps receipts? I mean some of my stuff ended up in Kansas.”
“When you have a storm like that you have hundreds upon hundreds of claims on the same day,” said Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner, Glen Mulready. “That’s going to delay things a bit with adjusters. So, they do need to be patient. But in this scenario, we’re talking about over two months ago. That’s when they need to be reaching out to us. If they’re getting frustrated at all; adjusters not calling them back, insurance companies not getting back, we need to know about that so we can get on to them.”
The Oklahoma commissioner said by law they have to respond to them in 20 days, and they typically reach back out fairly quickly before that.
A key point the commissioner talked about was understanding your policy and about cash value and replacement cost with your home.
“We have a consumer assist area with a dozen employees for a reason. To assist consumers,” said Mulready. “Our number one priority at the insurance department is consumer protection.”
The Oklahoma Insurance Department has gotten Billy’s information and they will be taking care of his case.
For his home and his vehicle.
A trailer home has been his current living situation for almost the last three months.
If you are an Oklahoma resident going through something similar, click here to contact the Oklahoma Insurance Department.
