NEWNAN, Ga. — A Georgia senator is putting pressure on a prominent insurance company to help people in Newnan recover from 2021’s devastating tornado.
Sen. Raphael Warnock, sent a letter to State Farm Insurance Tuesday, urging them to make Newnan’s residents a priority.
A little more than a year after an EF-4 tornado ripped through Newnan, the people are still rebuilding, still have questions, and many still need aid.
Warnock toured the city a few weeks before the community marked on year since the storm.
“What I heard on a recent visit was that people were having trouble navigating the insurance claims process, and so I sent a letter to State Farm because I did hear their name quite a bit," he said.
The letter to the CEO of the insurance giant, read in part"
"I urge State Farm Insurance (“State Farm”) to prioritize efforts that support an expedited recovery, including increased staffing availability to assist Newnan residents in navigating the often complicated and cumbersome claims process. I further request that State Farm hold public office hours and a public forum for residents to have questions answered by company officials and to speak to claims experts as they seek to use their insurance to rebuild their lives."
"We'll see what kind of response that we get from them," said Warnock.
The senator told 11Alive in early March, that he's still angry the city was denied individual aid by FEMA.
“I've been disappointed, quite frankly, and reached out to the folks at FEMA asking them to provide more federal assistance," he said.
In the meantime, Warnock hopes his letter will get a response from State Farm as well as others in the insurance industry.
"My understanding of that there's still 200 or 300 (claims) that still haven't been resolved," he said.
A spokesperson with State Farm says they’ve received the letter and to their understanding, don’t have a significant number of claims or major issues.
“It doesn't matter really what the number is, if it's your family, if it's your house, it means the world," Warnock said.
State Farm says they plan to respond to Warnock, who says he plans to continue to apply the pressure until he sees results.