Immediate efforts, as in, before the evacuation order is lifted?
I think it would have to be interpreted to mean as soon as one has access. Several weeks ago, there were some strong winds in town. One of the old original homes, a 2 story that's right in the center of town, suffered injuries from a huge oak tree that practically split the house in two. The home was quickly covered with large blue tarps to protect it from the heavy pop-up thunderstorms we have been having. I would bet that their insurance wouldn't cover any water damage if they had left it uncovered.
Something that happens in situations like the roofers coming around soliciting work and guaranteeing the insurance company will pay 100% is that they will have the material delivered from the building supply, direct to your property. Then the contractor doesn't pay his subs nor the building supply company. Georgia law puts the burden on the homeowner and the homeowner is then hung with that bill and the contractor has disappeared with the insurance money. It works the same way with many of the door to door home repair companies, even when it's just regular home maintenance like gutters, vinyl siding or roofing.
This is a little divergent, but an example of how it works. In the early 90's when Louisiana Pacific, Georgia Pacific, ABTICO and a number of other siding manufacturers were having catastrophic failures of their sidings, vinyl siding companies were like caravans going up and down the streets offering siding replacement, 100% paid for by the insurance companies.
My next door neighbor, a widow lady, hired a vinyl siding company to replace her siding. The siding was delivered ny the manufacturer and placed in her driveway. Almost a month later, the installer showed up. When the two men finished installing the siding, they presented Mrs. Adams a bill for just over $5000 for their labor. Then the siding manufacturer billed her for about $10,000 for the siding. The salesman had already gotten paid but didn't pay the subs or the manufacturer.
The good news about this is that this happened to enough people that the law became involved. They discovered that the siding salesman actually worked for the manufacturer and had a ghost installation company set up. The manufacturer was getting the money paid to the salesman by the homeowners, less his commission, plus full payment from those that paid the second bill. But the homeowners were out for the money paid to the subs.
