KATRINA CLAIMS APPROACH 500,000

Almost half a million insurance claims have been submitted by policyholders whose property was damaged by Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, according to George Dale, Mississippi Insurance Commissioner.

“The insurance industry has just been overwhelmed by this storm,” Dale told the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger, adding the number of claims will keep rising. “There are thousands of policy-owners who had losses. But there are only hundreds of adjusters. And you have to adjust every claim.”

Of the more than 400,000 claims filed in the three states, more than 80 percent, 328,001 were filed with State Farm, according to Susan Lamey, a spokeswoman for the company.

In Mississippi, State Farm has received 113,763 claims. Of those, 88,029 were for home damage and 25,734 for automobiles, Lamey said.

In Louisiana 163,595 homeowner claims were filed and 50,643 automobile claims submitted, she said.

State Farm has more than 3,000 adjusters inspecting property.

Allstate has 2,800 working Louisiana and Mississippi.