Blog: Loss adjusters describe Hurricanes Irma and Maria's devastation in Sint Maarten

“We touched down in Anguilla, which is about five miles from Sint Maarten on Sunday 24 September. We were trying to get there much earlier but every attempt we’d made to fly anywhere near the region had been thwarted as flights were cancelled, evacuations were announced or airports remained impassable,” says Cramer-Todd.

Kleinveld took a different route. “I was able to fly into Curacao, hoping I would be able to reach the worst affected islands by hopping from there. But I ended up stranded for a few days until I was able to hitch a ride on a military aircraft to Sint Maarten. All of us spent time at airports just trying to catch a flight.”

On Sint Maarten, vegetation was swept away, and 90% to 95% of property damaged or destroyed, with roof coverings strewn across the landscape. Cramer-Todd recalls: “The views from our aircraft on approach were sobering. So much that was green had turned to brown, leaves stripped from everything, trees felled or snapped like matchsticks, giving an almost apocalyptic feel to the place.”

The team stayed on the nearby island of Anguilla, in holiday apartments located in one of the only reinforced concrete buildings to withstand the storms. Cramer-Todd reports: “Speaking with the owner, he told us about the night Irma swept through, and said that the air pressure inside his property caused by the hurricane outside was causing his children so much inner ear pain he was forced, mid-storm, to open windows. You can’t imagine how frightening that must have been.”

The adjusting team spent a week working with insureds across the region, at a time when the clean-up had started in earnest.

“People are used to hurricanes, but they won’t always know what to do when something as devastating as this has happened,” Cramer-Todd says, adding people need much sympathy to deal with the emotional impact. In his words, adjusters act like “the fourth emergency service”, helping people “project manage their way out of the devastation”.

“This can mean anything from getting interim payments sent over to give them some cash flow, or dealing with materials and labour for rebuilding,” he explains.

“You’re obviously talking about an economy where tourism is the main contributor, so we’re expecting insurance will help many of these businesses to market their way back to health. Travellers will want reassurances that the region is back in business. So, for the hotels and tourist spots, this will be an important part of our work in getting those aspects of a claim dealt with.”