Thousands File Flood Insurance Claims After Isaac

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Officials say thousands of flood insurance claims are being filed in the wake of Hurricane Isaac, a slow-moving storm that brought drenching rain and tropical-storm force winds to parishes that don't typically experience flooding.

Commissioner of Insurance James Donelon said only 31 percent of Louisiana residents have flood insurance but three parishes — St. Tammany, Plaquemines and St. John the Baptist — experienced an unusual amount of flooding after Isaac straddled the region for days, swamping homes with water up to four feet deep in some areas.

State Farm Insurance Cos. spokesman Gary Stephenson says the company had received 16,780 claims from Mississippi and Louisiana by late Monday. Over 15,000 of those claims came from Louisiana, and almost 12,000 of those were homeowners or business property claims.