"When a storm damaged my house,
my Nodak Mutual agent and adjuster
were among the first people at my door."
Nodak Mutual agent responds to needs of his Northwood clients
By Beth DuFault, Marketing Coordinator
It was late on a Sunday evening recently when Nodak Mutual agent David Kent heard that a tornado was fast approaching his town.
David, who lives 10 miles east of Northwood, North Dakota, watched intently as he saw warnings scroll across the bottom of his television screen. He turned on the radio and heard that residents near Northwood should seek shelter. He didn't hesitate after viewing the blackness of the sky and the scattering of thunderbolts. "Holy smokes - we'd better get in the basement," he told his wife.
It's a good thing they did.
An F4 tornado struck Northwood on August 26 - a small farming community just 45 miles southwest of Grand Forks. The tornado decimated Northwood, killing one resident and injuring several others. The deadly force had wind gusts of up to 150 mph and its path was nearly a mile wide.
After hearing that the tornado hit, David was overwhelmed on what to do next. He grew up in nearby Hatton and had many good friends in Northwood. His insurance office was located there until 2001 before he moved it to Grand Forks.
"That next day, I thought to myself, 'Should I help with the clean up? Do I take calls in the office?'," David explains. Instead, he went right to the scene of the tragedy and talked to those affected.
"I got there about 8:15 a.m. on Monday morning," David says. "And I had to take it all in.... I felt like a foot soldier in World War II after a city had been bombed - but there was no smoke."
There were trees uprooted, roofs torn off, and power lines down. Garages had been completely removed from their foundations and debris was everywhere.
"You can look at pictures but you can't feel it until you've been there yourself," he says.
Kent and Nodak Mutual adjuster Chris Oen set out on foot and knocked on doors of clients in Northwood. They looked at their damage and wrapped an arm around them. They told them they were there to help.
"Chris had brought his checkbook and by noon, he had written eight to 10 checks for $5,000 each to take care of their immediate need," David says. It was like an advance payment on their claim, he explained to them. Not everybody wanted the assistance, but it showed the customer that their insurance company cared about them and their families, he says.
One policyholder happy to see her insurance agent was a woman named Betty. Elderly and living on her own, Betty had lived across the street from her sister in Northwood for over 40 years and was now left with no place to call home after her home was ripped apart.
"I put my arm around Betty and told her things are going to be OK." David said. "It's all been disrupted for her and life's going to change for Betty." Northwood's younger population will probably rebuild but Kent worried about Betty's future. "Where's Betty going to go?" he asks. "At least she'll get a check from us and things can get better for her."
In true North Dakota fashion, Northwood rebounded and began clean up duty right away. Farmers with payloaders were in town that Monday morning - clearing away debris from streets and yards. Chainsaws were buzzing and busloads of volunteers from neighboring communities had come to help. Kent said that by 2 p.m. that day, Northwood - with a population of nearly 1,000 people - had doubled in size with the help of outsiders.
After he had the opportunity to visit with insureds, David and his wife, Marguerite, her co-workers and fellow Nodak Mutual agent Bruce Ellertson from Lakota, came to Northwood and helped clean up the local grocery store. Wherever he goes, Northwood residents have approached David with praise on how he and the company have handled the situation.
"That's when it really hit me that we were doing our job."
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates for the Northwood tornado range from $38-55 million in damages. David had the satisfaction of knowing that his customers in Northwood were adequately insured - others, unfortunately, weren't so lucky. About nine years ago, David had rewritten many of his homeowner policies to get their replacement value up to par. Nearly 100% of his customers sustained some sort of damage either on a house, vehicle or boat, he says.
Collectively, the August 26 storm will generate over 200 claims for Nodak Mutual resulting in nearly $4 million in losses, says Pat Duncan, vice president of Shared Services. In Northwood alone, losses will exceed $3 million, including 42 structural losses with at least seven homes in need of being totally rebuilt, he says.
"A friend of mine lost his house to a fire five years ago and now the tornado destroyed his new home," David says. That friend will tear down and build again but it's his friend's poignant words that hit home for him.
"He said, 'Dave, it's just stuff. Human life is worth a lot more than a 2"x 4". ' "
It's been over two weeks since the tornado and it'll be a while yet before any sense of normalcy. Northwood's school sustained an exorbitant amount of damage - forcing the school district to take a harder look at consolidating with nearby Hatton. Agvise, one of the city's largest employers which was destroyed, already announced plans to rebuild - another reason for Northwood to believe it can heal.
That healing process began shortly after the tornado hit for David and his insureds.
"Being out there that Monday after the tornado, set the tone for the week. We had a good feeling being out there." David says. "Driving home that night I thought I'm sure glad we did what we did today."