NJ Homeowners And Storm Damage Insurance Claims [AUDIO]

Thousands of New Jerseyans suffered damage to their homes as super-storm Sandy ripped through the Garden State. Unfortunately, some got hit with a double-whammy when Wednesday's nor'easter caused even more damage.

Those unlucky homeowners have a lot of questions about filing insurance claims and today, Insurance Council of New Jersey president Deana Lykins provides the answers.

"There have been two separate events," explains Lykins. "There was the post-hurricane tropical storm event (Sandy) that people have filed a claim for. There's also been a nor'easter. People would file a separate claim so there would be two separate claims filed with their homeowner's insurance."

So, we know that Sandy and the nor'easter were two separate events and we know that two separate insurance claims will have to be filed if home damage occurred as a result of both storms. Does that mean the unfortunate few who got slammed twice will also have to shell out for two deductibles?

Lykins says, "Unfortunately, yes because under your insurance contract these are two separate events."

There is some positive news for those who took a double-shot of storm damage. Lykins says claims will be processed faster now than would typically be the case. She explains, "In actuality this would probably be a good time to have a claim because all the insurance companies have moved claims representatives to New Jersey to handle the claims so, probably at this moment you have more people handling claims than you ever would on a normal occasion."