More than 200 insurance claims filed in Mesa after massive monsoon storms
MESA, Ariz. - After last week's massive monsoon storms hit the Valley hard, the clean-up continues and insurance adjusters are working overtime to help storm victims get their claims filed.
Matt Watson has been a State Farm agent for the last 6 years focusing on northeast Mesa. He says this is the worst he’s dealt with since working there.
"When a storm like this comes in, all hands on deck," he said.
State Farm says they received 360 claims from the storm. Last week, 320 of them were in Maricopa County – 220 were from Mesa.
"Really the area of Falcon Field and northeast Mesa is where the heart of what I do is and the area that I cover. We saw all kinds of stuff, but the wind damage was terrible. Wind and hail damage. A lot of garage doors that were just pushed right in because of the storm damage," Watson said.
Overturned planes, roofs and siding of hangars were completely ripped off. Falcon Field and the surrounding neighborhoods certainly took the brunt of the storm in the east Valley.
"It’s going to take a little bit longer, so we ask customers to be a little bit more patient when something of this magnitude happens," Watson said.
It could take weeks or even months to go through the entire process of getting an insurance adjuster out, getting a contractor out and fixing all the damage.
While going through the process, Watson recommends watching out for scammers.
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Severe winds and hail were reported, with some areas receiving anywhere from 60 to 90 mile an hour gusts.
"A lot of people take advantage of homeowners during this time. You’re going to see people come in from out of state and different areas and just go around knocking on doors and looking to get your business and looking to get you to sign a contract," Watson said.
One of the hangar owners said last week, right after the storm happened, that the last time they dealt with similar damage from a storm it took 14 months to get everything fixed up and back in working order.