Our Ike Story

As an independent agency located on Galveston Island, we faced Ike head-on September 12-13, 2008. The majority of our clients are based on the Island and in Galveston County so virtually all of our clients had at least one claim; most had two or more.

We have spent a lot of time and money in the past few years developing a catastrophe plan designed to ensure we are available post-storm to handle our clients’ claims needs.

On Wednesday, September 10, we asked our 38 Associates to not report for work on Thursday but take care of their families and personal needs regarding an evacuation. On Thursday, September 11, we moved our computer servers, numerous workstations and our management team to College Station, TX, where we lease space in a server housing facility. By 5:00pm Thursday we had our computers online and all of our regular phone lines operational with our IP phones.

Hurricane Ike made landfall late Friday night, September 12, and the early morning hours of September 13. We were literally fielding calls from our customers as Ike began to make landfall, continuing within hours after it passed over the Island and 12 hours per day for the next 14 days.

We spent the first days post-Ike taking our clients’ claims while communicating with GIA Associates who had evacuated, making sure we could account for their location and safety. Additional members of our staff relocated to College Station. Several of our Associates had homes severely damaged in the storm. Realizing that it might be some time before we could return to Galveston, we rented two houses in College Station to house our displaced Associates and their families along with our management team that was coordinating our claims handling.

On September 14, our President was on Galveston Island to evaluate our office and begin coordinating claims adjusting firms for many of our clients with multiple locations that sustained severe damage. With no electricity or cell phone service on the Island, he was able to communicate with clients, insurance companies and our Associates in College Station via satellite phone, prioritizing our recovery efforts.

Another claims office was set up at our League City office, staffed by Associates who could get to that location. Power was restored there three days after Ike and we were available 12 hours a day to meet with our clients who had temporarily relocated to northern Galveston County.

GIA took many steps to handle the tremendous call volume we were receiving since most of our clients could not get back to Galveston but were filing claims based on the information they received from Ike’s media coverage.

As soon as Galveston Island was open for public access and power was restored to our Heards Lane location, we moved our computer servers and Associates from College Station back to Galveston. Our offices were open 7 days a week to handle claims and meet with our clients both in Galveston and League City.

We are proud of the fact that our planning and preparation paid off. Through the hard work and dedication of our Associates, we were available to our clients before, during and after the storm.

Our commitment to our clients remains the same. We will learn from our handling of Hurricane Ike and build upon our catastrophe plan to assure we will once again be here for our clients when they need us most.