Late in the evening on December 10, 2021, a powerful, long-tracked tornado made its way across western Kentucky, causing severe damage in numerous counties and towns.
ERIE Agent Torey Hammett was at home with his family in Princeton, Kentucky, keeping a close eye on weather reports. “They kept saying, ‘You're in the cone,’” Hammett, of Goodwin Insurance Agency, said. “We should've left, went to Clarksville, Tennessee. But you don't think it's going to happen.”
They immediately ran into the basement until the storm passed.
“All of my outside stuff was gone. We get out in the streets and start realizing how bad it is,” Hammett said. “Three doors down, that house is gone. Just one of those surreal events.”
According to the National Weather Service, the tornado stayed on the ground for more than 165 miles, reaching speeds over 190 miles per hour. All told, the tornado claimed 57 lives, caused more than 500 injuries and resulted in $3.5 billion in damage costs.
Even as ERIE Customers alone filed more than 3,000 weather-related claims in the tornado’s wake, Hammett was confident in ERIE’s response.
“I started thinking about the insurance side of it,” Hammett said. “Historically, ERIE has a great reputation and award-winning claims service, so I knew they would take care of it.”
He was right. In addition to ERIE’s Kentucky claims team, more than 50 adjusters and reinspectors from ERIE’s Catastrophe team were on the scene immediately.
‘Put Back Together Again’
For Customers like Amy Littlejohn, ERIE’s response “made everything right in the world.”
Littlejohn, a Princeton resident and Goodwin client, felt nervous when the damages to her family’s home caused her to file her first-ever claim on her home. But her anxiety quickly vanished when John Morgan, an adjuster from ERIE’s Columbus Branch, visited the property.
“John made everything seem OK,” she said. “When he showed up, he didn’t get straight to business; he took the time to get to know me, and that meant a lot to us.”
The damage the tornado caused was significant. Littlejohn would need a new roof, windows and gutters, among other repairs. But from the first phone call, she was convinced ERIE would do right.
“We were never stressed,” Littlejohn said. “We knew things would get processed and put back together again.”
With her claims settled promptly, Littlejohn was able to start the repairs in short order—the best possible conclusion to a harrowing experience.
“A lot of things were messed up,” she said. “But we were very blessed.”
The ERIE Family Spreads Across State Lines
The ERIE claims team was not the only one there to help. Agents and representatives from across the ERIE footprint—including 11 states and Washington, D.C.—traveled to Kentucky.
ERIE Agent Jon Cavaness of Jackson and Gray Insurance drove from Marion, Illinois, with generators and extension cords in hand. He knew what it felt like to be in their shoes. In 2012, an inland hurricane struck Marion with little warning, severely damaging Cavaness’s property and agency.
“I just wanted to give a little help during a crisis,” he says. “It’s almost impossible to know how to deal with a situation like theirs unless you have lived through it yourself.”
The efforts—from ERIE and Agents—didn’t go unnoticed.
“Erie Insurance, as a company name in my region, passed around voice to voice in a very positive manner,” Hammett says. “We have since written policies for Customers in that area because of the referrals on how well ERIE handled it.”
When it comes down to it, it’s really very simple, Cavaness says.
“It’s just people helping people.”
