CUNA Mutual Group said Thursday it has received 23 claims from credit unions affected by Tropical Storm Harvey.
And while Houston and most of southeastern Texas continue to dry out, the number of reported credit union closures increased slightly from 60 on Thursday to 65 on Friday, according to the Cornerstone Credit Union League in Plano.
The 23 claims, up from 11 claims reported on Monday, were “not catastrophic at this time” said Wendy Serafin, a spokesperson for CUNA Mutual in Madison, Wis.
“We anticipate claims volume and severity to increase in the coming days as credit unions are able to access their branches,” Serafin said. “We have five CUNA Mutual Group team members on the ground, and we have brought on additional resources to assist with a swift response.”
CUNA Mutual has set up a mobile headquarters at the Home Depot in Corpus Christi and has hired additional claims adjusters to help manage the expected volume of claims.
Tropical Storm Harvey dumped 51 inches of rain, claimed 46 lives and caused billions of dollars in property damage and economic losses, according to national media reports.
After taking an aerial tour on Thursday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner reported that the city is mostly dry though the Kingwood and west Houston areas still had flooding problems.
About 100 miles east of Houston, the city of Beaumont hit by more than 26 inches of rain on Wednesday, lost its water service. On Thursday, the city’s main water pumps failed leaving the city of more than 118,000 residents without safe drinking water. City officials said they are working around the clock to restore the water pumps and reminded residents to boil their water.
Despite this hardship, a few of Beaumont’s 13 credit unions such as DuGood FCU, SAFE CU and CommonCents CU have reopened their drive-thru services. Education First FCU has reopened two of its Beaumont branches and a drive-thru service at another branch.
The disaster response team for the Cornerstone league is working around the clock to determine the needs of affected credit unions, while managing offers of assistance to those in need.
Cornerstone said it contacted all but one of the estimated 200 credit unions throughout the 24 counties in southeastern Texas affected by the floods where there are roughly 740 branches and approximately 6,000 employees and volunteers.
The league also plans to dispatch a group of its employees to provide operational support for credit unions affected by the storm.
The National Credit Union Foundation has activated the online disaster relief system CUAid.coop to raise money for credit union people affected by Tropical Storm Harvey. Credit union supporters in every state can make donations at cuaid.coop.
