Mobile Insurance Base Sets up in Braintree for Disaster Education

The power is out – waves, ice, wind or some other natural catastrophe having stripped your neighborhood, town or entire region of its ability to communicate. The roof is leaking, the basement flooded, the windows shattered.

Cue the Mobile Claim Headquarters, a custom-built RV deployed by Travelers Insurance. It is stocked with satellite Internet and phones, printers, bottled water and agents, many of whom volunteer to be on alert in case of disaster. One of the company's five such vehicles around the country visited Braintree this week to educate consumers on how they can receive help when the worst of nature hits.

"It allows us to be very flexible, depending on the situation," Manuel Carvalho, an associate property manager, said. "Our goal is to get there as quickly as possible to assess damages."

The RV displayed in Braintree at Travelers' 350 Granite St. location is headquarted in Windsor, CT. Other units are in Georgia, Texas, Florida and Kansas City. They primarily respond to situations where there are widespread power outages and people need assistance with communications and on-the-spot claim money to help restore their homes.

Massachusetts ice storms in 2008 brought out the mobile responders, along with disasters across the nation, including Hurricane Katrina, which saw four of the vans. Some 200 people work full-time for the catastrophe management center, Carvalho said.

Each RV also comes equipped with a 20-foot trailer that can hold 100 ladders, said Bob Kozey, a member of the Travelers response team and a veteran of many disasters. More ladders and other items are stockpiled in Connecticut and can be shipped out quickly, as the team prides itself on getting anywhere in the country within 24 hours.