LA tempête Xynthia, which ripped through south west France during Saturday 27th February and Sunday morning 28th February 2010, has been declared a catastrophe naturelle by Prime Minister François Fillon. This means insurance companies are obliged to take into account flood damage and the government will publish details of the areas covered in the next 48 hours.
Property insurance company Intasure ( http://www.jml-insurance.co.uk/contactintasure.php ) have asked owners of properties damaged by the storm winds that hit south west France to contact them so that any claims can be processed. Intasure are asking policy holders to take photographs of the damage that has been caused and to get written quotes for the work required.
Work up to a value of €1,500 will be covered if it is required quickly and a claim form is available via a link from their website (check the precise details with Intasure as this information on this blog is given without responsiblity for accuracy).
The Fédération française des sociétés d’assurances website has a section entitled
"Floods: questions and answers about your insurance" / "Inondations : questions-réponses sur votre assurance" (On most computers now Google can translate these page into English or other languages) http://www.ffsa.fr/webffsa/portailffsa.nsf/html/home This is what the site says: Am I always covered by my insurance? - "People who have damage insurance (fire, water damage, ...) to their homes, their businesses, their vehicles, etc.. ... Automatically benefit from the security natural disasters.
The damage caused by floods, mudslides and shock associated with the wave action will therefore be compensated as such. The vehicles provided to third parties, ie only civil liability, does not benefit from the natural disaster insurance." / "Suis-je systématiquement couvert par mon assurance ? Les personnes qui possèdent une assurance de dommages (incendie, dégât des eaux, ...) pour leur habitation, leur entreprise, leurs véhicules, etc. …, bénéficient automatiquement de la garantie catastrophes naturelles.
Les dommages matériels provoqués par les inondations, coulées de boue et chocs mécaniques liés à l'action des vagues seront donc indemnisés à ce titre. Les véhicules assurés au tiers, c'est-à-dire uniquement en responsabilité civile, ne bénéficient pas de l’assurance catastrophe naturelle."
According to a report in Tuesday 2nd March's Independent, weak sea walls are blamed for deaths in French storms. Fifty people died after eight-metre high waves crashed through ageing sea defences.The sea wall that broke dates back to the Napoleon era and Philippe de Villiers, the head of the Government for the western Vendèe region told France-Info radio.
jml Property Insurance advertises Intasure, Andrew Copeland International Property Insurance, Staysure and Devon Direct Insurance Services Ltd on the jml-insurance site http://www.jml-insurance.co.uk/types.php?id=11&sec=1
2 comments:
I felt really bad to hear that several people died in that storm. There must some preventive measures to overcome such kind of drastic situations by taking appropriate insurance policies. There are several policies available that are particular to these kind of incidents e.g flood insurance etc.
you got a great blog....
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