Moore Tornado Victims Face Tragedy and Insurance Companies Following Storm

• Logan Layden
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  Logan Layden is a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma. He is a native of McAlester, Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2009. Logan spent three years as a state capitol reporter and local host of All Things Considered for NPR member station KGOU in Norman and six years as a reporter with StateImpact from 2011 to 2017. Most recently, he was news director for McAlester Radio before returning to public radio in 2020.

Logan Layden / StateImpact Oklahoma

Tornado victims wait in line to apply for FEMA assistance Wednesday in Moore, Okla.

An army of insurance adjusters from across the country started to descend on Moore less than 24 hours after Monday’s storm, and by Wednesday morning, a long line of them had formed outside the First Baptist Church.

Many were already in the area because of hail and tornados from earlier storms, and now they’re in destroyed neighborhoods assessing damage house by house.

FEMA is on the ground in Moore as well, helping people fill out the proper paperwork to start the process of receiving federal financial aid and assistance. The earlier insurance claims and eligibility forms are filled out, the more quickly the money will come.

But insurance adjusters and FEMA workers are just facilitators. And they can’t fully do their jobs until victims do theirs.