The state of Oklahoma felt at least five small earthquakes over last week’s Thanksgiving holiday. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, there was a 2.4 magnitude quake at 6:55 AM on Saturday, November 26th, with an epicent4er about five miles south of Sparks. This was the fifth temblor in the area since Thursday the 24th, when a 3.7 magnitude shaker was recorded near Prague. There were three more tremors between those.
Earlier in November, a 5.6 magnitude quake – the strongest Oklahoma has ever recorded – struck the state, causing damage to at least 40 houses and a highway, and collapsing a tower at Shawnee, OK’s St. Gregory’s University.
In the wake of these earthquakes, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin has requested a federal disaster be declared. Her request was made on November 22nd, and is meant to get help for people and businesses in Lincoln and Pottawatomie counties, where the tremors have been centered. Nearly 200 homes and businesses have been damaged in those counties, according to early estimates.
If the governor’s request is approved, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management agency) will provide grants and low-interest loans to home- and business owners and renters.
Insurance companies around the state are also rallying, redefining their coverage in Oklahoma.
Thanksgiving is tomorrow. It’s a day filled with food and festive spirits, but it’s also the top day of the year for cooking-related accidents and injuries, and one of the most common causes of them is the turkey fryer. Let’s face it: anything that involves a vat of boiling oil is inherently dangerous.
We’re not saying you shouldn’t use a fryer – after all, crispy turkey skin is one of our favorite once-a-year guilty pleasures, as well, but we think you should boost your fire insurance policy before you start to cook, have a first aid kit handy, and follow these safety tips, from Dr. Thomas Esposito, chief of the Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Burns in the Department of Surgery, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine:
Look for the newer fryers with sealed lids to prevent oil spills.
Keep the fryer in full view while the burner is on.
Keep children and pets away from the cooking area.
Place the fryer in an open area away from all walls, fences or other structures.
Never use the fryer in, on, or under a garage, breezeway, carport, porch, deck or any other structure that can catch fire.
Slowly raise and lower the turkey to reduce hot-oil splatter and to avoid burns.
Never cook in short sleeves, shorts or bare feet. Cover all bare skin when dunking or removing bird.
Protect your eyes with goggles or glasses.
Immediately turn off the fryer if the oil begins to smoke.
Make sure the turkey is completely thawed and be careful with marinades. Oil and water don’t mix and water can cause oil to spill over, creating a fire or even an explosion.
Don’t overfill fryer with oil. Turkey fryers can ignite in seconds after oil hits the burner.
Keep a fire extinguisher appropriate for oil fires close at hand and be familiar with how to operate it.
Do not use a hose in an attempt to douse a turkey fryer fire.
If you do burn yourself, or someone else is burned, seek immediate medical attention.
Citizens Property Insurance customers in Florida will have less coverage available in 2012.
The company, which is run by the state, released a memo to its agents stating that it will be eliminating homeowners insurance coverage for most structures beyond the main residence listed on a policy. Specifically excluded will be car ports, patios, screen porches and pool enclosures that are not constructed from the same materials as the actual residence.
The exclusions don’t end there, however. Citizens is also excluding coverage for gazebos, tiki huts, or any other similar structures likely to be open to the weather, or any structure that has a roof or wall built from lattice, thatching, or similar materials.
Citizens is also instituting a $10,000 cap on cosmetic damage to floors that cover less than five percent of the total square footage of a home.
According to company spokesperson Christine Ashburn, these changes will go into effect on all new and renewal policies on January 1, 2012.
Even renters need insurance to cover their belongings. This video explains exactly how to purchase renters insurance, and what extras you may want to consider.
November 2nd, 2011 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in auto insurance
The Virginia Farm Bureau wants motorists to be on the lookout for deer on roads and highways, especially in rural areas, during this time of year.
Why is this a concern? November is the peak time for car-vs.-deer collisions, and Virginia is one of the top ten states for such accidents. Virginia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company handled more than 3,000 such claims last year, and the average loss per claim was over $2,100.
October and December are also high-traffic times of year for deer crossing, the Farm Bureau says.
Across the country, deer-related collisions result in about 150 (human) deaths and about $4.6 billion in auto insurance claims every year.
It’s no secret that there are often grey areas when it comes to homeowners associations. Often it’s not completely certain who covers contents insurance, for example. Still, it’s not often that an HOA is accused of being responsible when someone is killed by a wild animal.
Nevertheless, that’s what’s happening in Georgia.
The heirs of an 83-year-old woman, Gwyneth Williams, have sued her HOA, The Landings Association, after she was found dead in a lagoon in her suburban Savannah subdivision.
The lagoon in question was also home to an eight-foot-long alligator. Williams’ heirs believe the HOA should have removed the animal.
The Georgia Supreme Court has decided to hear the case.
Earlier, a split Georgia Court of Appeals panel ruled that the golf club and homeowners association may be held liable for damage inflicted by alligators in its lagoons.
It’s unclear whether an alligator killed Williams. Her mangled body was found in one of the lagoons in October 2007.
The club and the association have argued that Williams may have died from a heart attack before encountering the alligator.
The numbers are in, and the “winner” in the “who had more damage from Hurricane Irene” contest is Suffolk County, NY, at least if you’re measuring by the total amount of insured property loss.
Overall, the three states that saw the most damage to insured property (topping $500 million) were New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina, with Virginia and Maryland rounding out the top five.
This information comes from an insurance data provider, Verisk Analytics, and was released on Monday, however, the Verisk cautions that while the numbers are fairly solid, technically, they’re still just an estimate.
In total 191 counties in states along the eastern seaboard saw damage from Hurricane Irene, including Vermont, which doesn’t even have a coastline.
Not surprisingly, many of the people who suffered property damage did not have wind or flood insurance as part of their homeowners coverage – these must be purchased separately.
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